The Safety Fence Which Held the Ocean
by Pleasedontjudgemeinthefuture
Summary: 'There was one thing that was currently truly crystal clear. He sincerely missed Lapis. He missed her a lot.' Post Steven bomb 0.2, the gems are still searching for Peridot as anxieties grow over the return of threats to Earth. The Crystal Gems are facing their biggest challenge yet, the terror of an unknown future and possible war. Warning: This fic will destroy you.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one – Night terrors in the Sea**

Waves crashed ashore, buffeting the rockside of the cliff face as the dreary night lingered. Steven felt the blanket closer to him and then pushed it away. It was night, but it was hot. The kind of passing of time that was humid and suffocating. However, it wasn't this which kept him awake.

There was one thing that was currently truly crystal clear. He sincerely missed Lapis. He missed her a lot.

He turned to his side, looking for the cold patch on his pillow. The gems seemed to not be here. Perhaps they had gone off on a mission while he had been trying to sleep. The loud woosh of the warp pad didn't really awaken him after years of desensitisation to it. He yawned, rubbing his dark eyes.

Lion was snoozing at the bottom of the stairwell, pink fur illuminated by moonlight to the point it appeared near luminescent. At least there was another presence in the house to keep his spirits company. He smiled, deciding to catch a snack before a second attempt at sleep. Gently, he padded down the steps that connected his makeshift room to the rest of the house, tiptoeing ungracefully past his furry companion as if to not awaken him. Lion's ear twitched, but his eyes remained closed. Taking this as a small victory, the boy padded to his fridge and opened it, still turning back to make sure he hadn't awakened the other.

Yes. He was still asleep. Steven didn't want to be rude to the pink creature's sleeping patterns.

After all, it was indeed very important to have some rest.

However, as he was doing a small jig to celebrate both this small conquest being a success and the fact that there were some really good looking leftovers within the fridge (albeit his fancy currently being for cereal. Yes, the goodness of frosted flakes would be his tonight!), his mission was abruptly a failure as the warp pad activated.

He groaned, frowning, but this momentary sadness didn't last long as he saw Pearl skulking out of the shadows. He glanced back to Lion, who had indeed awoken, and ran over to her with a carton of milk in his hands. "Pearl! You're back!" A grin, eyes bright at her return.

She blinked in surprise, turning to him. "Steven? I thought you'd be asleep at this hour. What's wrong?"

"Oh, don't worry. It was just a little too hot to go to bed and I got hungry. And then you came! Did you guys have a mission?"

"Fair enough, and yes. Don't worry, we just decided to do a little more scouting about for Peridot's tracks." She gave him a gentle smile. "But, you know, it's kind of hard when she's most likely airborne."

"And she's smart, too!" He pulled over a box of cereal and filled it eagerly. "She's probably gonna make sure to hide well if she knows you guys are out are looking for her."

"A sound point, Steven." She nodded, sitting by him. Her face turned a little grim. "And a scary one, too. We don't know where she could be. And as for the other two… Forgive me for asking, but have you by any chance…?"

"No." He replied, quickly. "I haven't had another dream with Lapis or anyone else."

She stroked at his hair endearingly. "Yes. I thought that would be the case. Sorry for asking about it."

"It's okay! I just wanna see if she's doing alright!" He replied, pouring in the milk. The carton had several of the crying breakfast friends printed onto its side. "I just get worried about her a lot, you know. It's kind of about what Garnet said, she can't be feeling too good if she's in a fusion she doesn't like."

Pearl didn't exactly know how to reply. She nodded solemnly, cursing inwardly for allowing Steven to fret over this. It really was beyond his age to be so deeply concerned, especially with issues that even she didn't know how to approach. She sighed. "I'm sure things will be just fine. I just hope that there hasn't been a way for Peridot to communicate back with the Homeworld. I mean, I'm sure that they're going to notice that they're gone and…" She stopped and bit her lip as she noticed Steven's eating had slowed down.

"They're gonna send more gems to earth. I know. I kinda guessed."

"Steven." She sighed, again. Her pale skin had grown even more light. True, this was all making her uncomfortable, but talking about issues with such gravity with the youngster was… Difficult. "I… We don't want you to spend your time worrying about all this. It's going to make you scared and worried, and you shouldn't be feeling that way, alright?"

He hid his frown. Interesting that she was saying that after she'd been so direct about it with Connie. "I'm a crystal gem, too."

"I know you are, but you're still-"

"You're too scared to let me worry even when the planet is in danger." He concluded, going back to the cereal. It had gotten mushy and soggy. The sugar saturating with the liquid.

"Well, to be honest. The planet has always been in danger." She gave a nervous laugh. "We've just been doing a pretty good job of protecting it."

"And we're going to continue that, right?" He attempted a smile. As did Pearl. It was difficult and made his jaw ache, but… He had to. He had to keep happy.

"Right. Now, you should try sleeping again. You don't want to be all grumpy tomorrow in case we find something and take you with us." She remarked, her tone more motherly. More authoratitive. Steven gave a small beam at this. Pearl was back to her usual self. Or trying, anyway. "Come on, go upstairs and I'll clear up these for you."

"Alrighty! Just don't watch me sleep again!"

"Hey!" She shot back, flustered. "I've been clean for a month! Well… A week, but I'm getting better at not… Watching you. Good heavens, it is awkward now that I say it like that." She cleared her throat. "Regardless. Go to bed. I'm sure you'll find it easier to drift off with some food in you." She shot a glare to the breakfast bowl with distaste.

Humans were still so strange sometimes.

... 

A struggle. A constant, anxious struggle. A never ending push and pull; two forces at one another's throats with constant friction. Constant outpour of energy and screams.

It was deafening. Drowning.

It was chaos and havoc and fury. A human man would have fallen at the sheer strife. The azure rays shot through the luminescence in beams as the tide crashed against itself, like a million mustangs crashing into eachother, the winds howling like cries of battling hawks.

It was hell.

Lapis grunted, pulling her chains as if reigns. Yes. She was in control. She would tame the other. Break Jasper. No matter how long it would take. Oh, the only thing that kept her going was sheer hatred. And her promise to Steven. She knew what Jasper really was. She'd felt the other gem's torment, her desecration. Lapis knew exactly what she would and could do to those whom opposed her, and she couldn't let Steven be the next victim.

Not Steven. Anyone, anything but Steven. It was the boy who'd shown her kindness when he had no actual need. Nothing to gain from her but her friendship. The boy was pure. Innocent. She could feel some of Jasper's emotions, drives and desires and knew one thing for certain.

Jasper wanted the boy. Jasper needed the boy. That child was at the forefront of the hulking gem's mind. Ever since they'd sunk. She knew Jasper had seen through her through the fusion and reciprocated such intimate feelings from her.

The orange stone knew Lapis was vulnerable when it came to the crystal gem. This was no longer about Rose Quartz, no longer about the war. No, they'd left the borders of mission control long, long ago. Yes, there was still a part in Jasper that had originally drawn her to punch that boy, but those feelings had been replaced by a new kind of feeling, an original kind of desire.

The worst thing about fusion was the shared imagination. The shared feelings and experience. Jasper knew these were her weak elements now. That was how she manipulated her small grasps of control. By broadcasting thoughts of how she'd torture the boy. How she'd laugh as he screamed. How she _promised_ to make Lapis be the audience.

It was enough to bring the royal gem to her knees. Even beyond Lapis' low esteem and how Jasper screamed how _useless, weak_ and _disgusting_ she was. Nothing could hurt her more than those glimpses into the shared consciousness.

But it was because of those thoughts she held her hands to the chains. She couldn't let Jasper go.

She had to do this for him. Even if she'd sink into the monster that was Malachite along the way.

 **A/N: I'm writing a thing. I fucking love this show.**

 **There's going to be a lot more... Feelsy stuff after this chapter. Hop onto the ride, kids.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two- Silence before the storm**

Pearl shrunk to the wall a little. She faced the cliff around the back of the house and gazed down to keep her eye on Amethyst and Steven at the bottom of the beach. The day was new, fresh, and full of promise.

She herself was instead full of doubt and fear.

She reached into a hidden pocket. She had to transform it herself, as her attire hadn't previously accommodated for it, and drew out a small box of matches and a cigarette. Garnet wouldn't approve. Hell, she herself didn't approve. The human ritual was another oddity, but… It didn't hurt her like it hurt them. She could always regenerate new parts and it wasn't like eating. Nothing stayed through her systems as she exhaled the smoky breath. She lit up and took a deep drag, wrinkling her nose at the smell. The human race was at its current peak in scientific development and they still couldn't get these things to smell any better.

She took another inhale and glanced down again as Steven yelled tag as he caught the purple gem. Pearl smiled. This was… Good. His words had troubled her for the night. He needed to be protected, and she knew she physically could, but… He knew a lot.

He knew too much. And there was nothing he, nor the other crystal gems, could do to protect him from himself. It was that which had caused Steven to release Lapis, to face Jasper.

All regrettable descisions in her mind, however necessary for the escape of the gems from the ship.

As the nicotine hit her, making her body shudder and relax, she felt another presence. Gracefully, she turned on her heel. "I didn't anticipate you to be spying on me spying on Steven, Garnet."

The larger gem chuckled as she moved towards Pearl, then frowning a little at the cigarette. "I needed to find you and I did." She replied, taking the small smoking stick out of the other gem's fingertips and throwing it down the cliff. "Don't do that."

Pearl gave a small grunt. "That's an order I can't follow, unfortunately."

"It's an order you won't. There's a difference. I'm only making sure Steven doesn't catch on."

"Oh, please." She crossed her arms. "I make sure he never sees me. Unlike some gems…" She glanced down to see Amethyst being buried by Steven in the sand, "I'm responsible." She tensed up as she felt a large hand on her shoulder.

"You should try to relax. I know you're worried about everything, but being scared will not help us fight." Garnet said, Pearl could feel her gaze through the glasses and looked down. "Besides." A smile. "I found something interesting."

"Oh, yes. You said you needed me. What is it?"

"I wanted to show you first, since I wasn't sure how the others would react." Garnet summoned a bubble. The smaller gem's eyes widened as she gazed at the contents. "I know."

"But that's!-"

"One of Peridot's fingers." Garnet nodded. "But look at it. It's bent and twitching… Like it's hurt."

Pearl was aghast, her brows raised and body shaky. "What does this mean? None of us can just randomly lose a digit. Why hasn't it tried to go back to her?"

"I don't know. But this is an important discovery." She replied. "I found it by a road just outside of the main area of the city. Peridot has to be nearby. I didn't see anything else of hers, but…"

"But why would she just leave this laying around? Are you sure this isn't a trap? This… Oh God, Garnet, I'm so confused!" She staggered, clawing at her hair.

"Pearl, calm down. We need to approach this with caution but we cannot let ourselves overreact."

"But!"

She was hushed, much to her annoyance. "Call the other two in. I'll figure out how to break this to them so that they don't freak out."

"No one is freaking out!"

"You are."

"I'm just surprised! Who knew she'd come back here, haha! We're not in any kind of danger at all!"

Garnet put her palm to her face. "You're hyperventilating."

"We can't show this to them! Steven was too worried to sleep last night! It's too soon for him. Please!"

"We can't coddle him, anymore, Pearl." She bit back. "He's not a baby. He's one of us. But… I agree. If he has had nightmares over what happened aboard the ship and Lapis, then we cannot let ourselves hurt him more. I'll tell Amethyst. You try and calm down."

...

Oh, by the name of Yellow Diamond, it was hard to crawl. The ditch her body had been thrown in was deep. Way too deep. She tried to push further, but with no fingers, she couldn't exactly pull herself up.

Peridot was surprised she hadn't poofed into her gem, despite her whole body having been a wreck. What had hit her? One of the grimy bits of human machinery. Oh, she could smell their scent from here. Driving on the gas built of dead cells. Granted, the gems had attempted to do something similar, but at least homeworld knew a way which didn't reek of diesel.

Mud caked her green body. It was disgusting. Everything was disgusting.

She wanted to be sterile, clean. Even kindergarten was cleaner than this horrible, soggy place. And she was sinking into it. She could barely keep awake.

She wanted to leave. Home. Home. She wanted home. Clean, pristine, technologically advanced and civilised home.

Go to Earth, they said. It would be EASY, they said.

That horrid, nasty boy and those godawful crystal Gems. Oh, how she hated everything.

She couldn't move. She couldn't get up.

She was stuck in the wasteland.

 **A/N: I know I'm going to be questioned about Pearl's smoking. Sorry if that's not your thing, but it's a teeny headcanon I wanted to include. A major part of this story will be Pearl's anxieties and stress being explored (as the other gems) and not to glorify smoking at all, I felt her vices needed to be broadcast through. Kids, don't do it. Bad habit *sprays you all with water gun***

 **Thanks so much for reading so far. Comments are very much appreciated!**

 **Ronnie**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- The Rising Tide**

Steven knew something was amiss. He could practically feel it in his bones. Ever since he'd returned from the broadwalk yesterday, something had been playing up with the gems. He and Amenthyst had returned, licking up ice creams to beat the heat (with a bag of fried bits stuffed into his pocket for later deliciousness), Garnet had called her in for a chat.

There was something of an air of grim knowing amongst the elders of the Crystal Gems, and one time too many, Steven wasn't included in on this. He knew his exclusion had a reason, but decided to press anyway.

"Pearl." He decided to approach her. Amethyst, while an amiable gem, wasn't one to snitch, and Garnet knew exactly how to stay quiet. Pearl, on the other hand, had the unfortunate vice of saying too much in her worry, and considering how her brow was way too crinkled in doing a simple Sudoku puzzle, it was obvious that whatever this was, it was at the forefront of her mind.

The two had been sitting in the living room section of the house, Steven finishing off his marathon of 'Crying Breakfast Friends' while his mother figure fixated over the aforementioned puzzle book. Her body was tense, pallid limbs fixed into a position Steven couldn't fathom a way to be comfortable.

"Pearl." He said again, a little louder. She gave a squeak as she turned. Yes, she was definetly fretting over something.

"Yes, Steven? What is it?"

"What's going on with all you guys? Since yesterday you've all been acting super weird. Especially you."

She looked attacked. Her eyes darted from side to side as she held in nervous giggles. "Uhm, well, nothing, really! I guess we're all still a bit frazzled over… Nearly being forced to go back home, but you know, it's nothing too major! Not like we've discovered that Peridot is close or something! Oh, would you like me to do something? I could cook! Cooking is good!"

"Peeearl." He groaned, adding several extra syllables to her name. She grew increasingly twitchy, biting her lip. "Come on. I know you guys aren't still worried over that. If you were, you would have been like this when we first got back, but you weren't!"

"Gems, uh, react with severe trauma in various ways!" She hated lying like this. Making things up on the spot wasn't her forte. "We hold it in until it becomes so bad that we practically explode and cry over it! It's how we've always dealt with things!"

"Okay, that's true, but it's all of you acting weird. Why won't you tell me?"

"Steven." Garnet came into her room. Pearl breathed out a sigh of relief so vast that her body practically keeled over. "You shouldn't pry into this."

"But you guys are keeping something from me and I wanna know! Especially if it's important!"

"We will. But right now we're having some difficulty processing it, too. We're sorry, all of us are. You know I don't like keeping secrets from my team." Garnet leant down to gently embrace him, squeezing his sides with a solemn look. "But we need to be in a stable position before we reveal this to you. If we're all panicking, then we'll all be at a threat. It currently up to you to do what Rose did, and keep us stable. Can you do that, even for a little while?"

Steven paused, combing a hand through his curls. "Yeah." He said, finally. Balling his fists, he turned around. "Alright. You guys have fun in your own new secret team."

"Steven. It's not like that!" Garnet replied, concerned.

"I'm going out for a ride." He said, walking off. Cheeks puffed. "Lion! Where are you? I need to get my bicycle!"

"Steven!" Pearl had gotten to her feet, arms at her sides and ready to catch up to him. She was only stopped as Garnet stepped in front of her, her face a deep frown.

"Don't. We'll upset him more. This is my fault. We need to quickly find a way to tell him without arousing panic."

"At least wear a helmet!" The equally concerned gem bellowed to the boy as he left the house, the door slamming shut. "Well."

Garnet sighed. "That could have gone a lot better.

...

The air blew past his features, a cool sea breeze hitting him in contrast to the beating Summer heat. This was good. He liked this. It was an Indian summer which had stretched past beyond the months it was meant to, but that was alright with him. Despite it hurting his sleep the other night, Steven loved the warmth, the flowers that came with the warm season and the lush grass that surrounded the otherwise somewhat barren dunes of Beach City.

His hands gripped the bars as he skidded around the streets, narrowly missing pedestrians, but they didn't appear to mind much. He'd even passed by a few of his older, teenage friends, who'd cheered on his ride. He liked them a lot.

Steven drove past the warm, sweet scent of the donut shop. Past the town hall and mayoral office, the pizza place. He knew he could make stops, and while his mood had shifted from his upset at home through the freedom of cycling, he'd decided that he didn't want to talk to people right now. Maybe he'd call Connie later, but at the moment, it was Steven time.

He soon hit harder roads and cycled past the town. The cars raced faster on the roads of the outskirts, and it didn't feel particularly safe, so the lad decided to hop onto a more rural path and then to brush past the more grassy plains.

Blades of the green plants licked at his ankles as he drove past, the air of the sea replaced with a cooler and more arid scent of nature. It had rained a few days before, making some mud splash onto his trouser legs, but he was genuinely carefree. He was good at that. Being carefree. Perhaps it was his naivety, or his boyish spirit, but Steven could let go.

He gradually came to a halt, tyres making indents in the grass. He hopped off and put his set of wheels gently on their side. Steven then relaxed and floomped his body onto the ground, rolling about much like Lion did when he was settling to sleep. It felt good as the green leaves tickled him. Perhaps it was in times like these he felt closest to his mother, embracing nature just as she had many years ago. Had she lay down on the grass, facing the heavens just as he was now? His hands traced the gem at his belly button.

He stayed like this for a while. Embracing the warmth on his face and all that was around him, as if it were hugging him back. This felt like his kingdom, but at the same time, nothing that he owned, but was instead a part of. He felt alive.

But, yet… Something was amiss. He blinked, sitting up. Something ruffled in the grass a little beyond him. Odd. Was there a new animal friend to meet? He smiled, and then paused. What if it was a seagull, ready to attack? No, they weren't all that common past the city area.

Slowly, he made his way to it, happily humming. Oh, was that a new song? Hm. Yes. He'd have to write it down. Perhaps his father would enjoy writing something with him on his way back.

A groan. He stopped, heart pounding in his ears. Was that someone there?

Often, around the summer time, Beach City attracted many party animal teens (Lars' apparent 'beach babes') who would often get a little too much party in them and wake up outside of their beds. Steven had often seen the partied out people on the beach and often partook in helping them get back on their feet, like lost baby turtles wading to the sea.

"Hello!" He called out. A little more shuffling. "Hello?" He yelled again, walking to it. "Anyone out there? You okay? My name is Steven! Where are you? Whoa!" He found himself stumbling over and landing face first into the ground. He rubbed at his face, obvious grazes on his knees stinging and causing tears to well at his eyes.

There was a muffled noise behind him. He twisted around. "Hey, it's not a good idea to lay on the ground. If a giant woman, like a fusion, was walking around, they probably wouldn't see you and you'd get…" He trailed off as he realised that the shape he had fallen over was of a very distinct lime colour.

He took in a sharp inhale.

"…P-Peridot?"

"…Great. Another one of you… Stevens."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four – Danger at Bay**

"Peridot, what happened to you?" The boy exclaimed, looking at her wrecked body. She was bruised all over, her limbs stumps. Her face, while showing clear distress and anger, was also clearly exhausted. The gem had rings under her eyes which glared at the boy with immense hatred.

"One of your stupid earth automobiles hit me. It didn't even bother to stop in broad daylight! How in the name of Yellow Diamond can you miss a reasonably tall lime green gem? It's not like I blend in!"

"Peridot! Did you not look left and right before crossing?" He cried out, much to her seeming distress. "You're all busted up and hurt! Where are your hands?"

"They went missing when I got hit. I was too hurt to try and retrieve them and too… Too much in a bad state to try and summon them myself. Ugh, what am I doing? Why am I even talking to you? This is all YOUR fault!"

Steven took a step back. Was it his fault? He had gotten them away and had inadvertedly caused Peridot to be stuck on the planet. He bit his lip. "I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to get you hurt. I can help you! I can get your body back together and help you get back home, just like I did with Lapis!"

"I don't need your help." She sniffed, wriggling away. Had she not looked so dire, Steven would have laughed at how the paraplegic gem looked like a caterpillar as she did so. Instead, he began to tear up again. Both from the pain of falling over and his upset.

He was about to fall further into crying, however, stopped as he heard a hacking cough from the Homeworld gem. "What is this?" She asked herself. "Is this how you vermin are going to torture and kill me? By making me sick? You people are just as awful as they said!"

"No!" Steven shot back as he neared her body. "We wouldn't do that. I don't know how long you've been here but… You're probably sick. You need to be looked at and helped. I don't know what's going to happen to you if you don't let me help you! I'll use my spit and get you better, I promise!"

"Oh, dear LORD NO!" She resumed trying to wriggle away at a quicker pace, but soon fell to exhaustion. "Fine. Take me, but at least let me have my dignity."

"No, we're not going to hurt you, Peridot. Or, at least I'm not going to." He said as he came closer, inspecting her. "Looks like the car hit you around there. Do you know where the rest of your hands are?"

"I have no idea. I was in a disgusting mudhole for days." She spat. "Look, I'd rather you hurt me than helped me. That way, at least they won't see me as a traitor when they reinvade this miserable place. They're going to come back, you know. You're all doomed when they do."

"Please don't say that." He gaped. "I… All we ever wanted was to protect people. Not start a war, or get hurt. No one asked for any of this. I promise."

"Pah! Do you think that matters to any of them? Do you have any idea how cutthroat the Homeworld is? Of course you don't. You're not even a proper gem! You're some primitive monkey with a rock stuck to his umbilical cord with no knowledge of what a disgusting traitor he truly is! I can't believe Jasper mistook you for Rose Quartz at all. You're nothing but some lowly brat!"

Shaking.

Steven was shaking.

No one had ever been this cruel to him.

Not Lars, whom was easily shrugged off. That, or Sadie was always there to punch him.

Not any adult.

Even at her most cruel, indignant and angered self, Pearl had never cut that deep.

Shaking.

He gasped air; in out. In out.

She was right.

That was the worst part.

She was right

She was right

She was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right

"STOP IT!"

she was right

she was right

"CALM DOWN, ALREADY!"

Peridot's words weren't even registering.

she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right

He was pathetic

"Just stop! I'm sorry!" He blinked, looking at her. Red faced. Snot crawling down the flesh below his nose. He only now realised how hard he was breathing. How his eyes stung from his pained sobs. Peridot was… She was scared. "I didn't mean it! Please! Calm down. I was… I was angry."

she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right she was right

"You were right." He repeated.

"No! I wasn't." She looked away. "That wasn't called for. I forget that you're still… Puny. Sorry, ugh. Wrong word. Why do I always keep screwing up? I forget that you're an oversensitive human spawn with little experience of the cosmos and easily torn apart self esteem! There!"

His face went through a range of expressions before settling on a hurt frown, but… He couldn't shake away his fascination. He still shook as he spoke. "I know you're lashing out at me because you're upset about being stuck and hurt. But that… That was really hurtful."

"I know." There was a glimmer of fear in her eyes. "I know, I'm sorry! I said it! I don't know what to say! There's no protocol we're taught to deal with hurting others! I don't know how not to hurt you! Please, just leave me alone!"

"Why? What are you going to do? Wait for the Homeworld to invade? When will that even be? I don't want anything from you, Peridot! I just want to help you get better because it's what I do. I don't want you to be hurt!"

The green gem lay there, speechless for a few moments, before speaking softly. "But it's… Contradictory of what you should feel. We hurt you. We hurt your eye. Why aren't you seeking vengeance for any of that?"

"I don't know. From my experience, vengeance just gets you to get all wet and nearly drown."

"Metaphorically?"

"No, that actually kinda happened."

"Oh. I'm assuming Lapis. I don't trust that one."

Steven sighed. "That's weird." He sat down beside her. "Because you're a lot like her. She was really scared, too. And didn't listen to me, or want my help. But I fixed her gem because I wanted to see her happy and healthy. And that's just how I wanna see you. I know you're suspicious of what I would do to you, but… If you'd just let me, I could save you."

"For what price?"

It was his turn to pause. He debated saying the first thing on his mind; that being that his healing was free and always would be, however, a thought then crashed through his cranium. "I want you to try making friends with the Crystal Gems."

 **A/N: Peri was an asshat because I headcanon her with having difficulty expressing herself more gently due to her upbringing in the Homeworld (to be explored more in later chapters). Poor Steven. My child. She will learn, though. She will learn.**

 **Please review if you wanna discuss more SU headcanons. I'm always up for it! Many thanks!**

 **Ronnie**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five- Marooned**

"Out of the question!" Peridot had snarled, her face a deeper green. Steven recognised this as a blush; much like one Pearl often held upon her features. "There's no way I'd ever... it's inconceivable! They'd kill me after everything I did! They tried to kill me at Kindergarten!"

"Yeah, but that was before you got all hurt." Steven replied, leaning against her frame."Okay, they're mad at you. I'm still mad at you. But you've gotta move on past everything, right?"

She frowned deeply. What was with this child? Why was he so adamant to be so... Weird? His manner was abnormal. Borderline treason against his own party. And yet, the chubby brat stood there and smiled with genuine kindness on his face. What was there for him to gain in any of this? She couldn't allow to drop her guard under any circumstance. However, there was something at the back of her mind which told her that she had a lot to gain from his naivety if he really was being as genuine as he let on. She pushed her body up, roughly, revealing more of her mudcaked gem flesh and torn jumpsuit. "What are you willing to offer for my salvation?"

"I'll… Well, gems don't usually eat. Except for Amethyst. She likes it a lot. But I'm not sure if you'd be into food. Cookie cats kinda share your whole backstory, but they stopped making them and I already had my stash. So, food is a nope. Uhm. Well, I'll heal you up! And I'll find your hand and stuff, alright? And we'll give you shelter! I'm sure the other gems will hear you out! And when they trust you, you could go on missions with us, and play board games, and have together breakfast and I'd take you to see everything in Beach City and you could meet my friends-"

"I'll pass." She replied, brows raised sardonically. Was this her fate? To be talked to death? "Help me find some kind of shelter to stay in for now. I doubt I can just stroll into your base and expect a welcome party."

"I could organise that for you! I've got party hats left over and-"

"Again. I'll pass. Can you… Can you help me up?" She looked distant. Embarrassed. "I think those big growths over there will shield me from the infernal drops of moisture, at least."

"Yeah, sitting here in the rain can't be too much fun if you're all cold. We get a lot of it because we're by the coast and it all gets blown in. But rain is good." He moved closer and attempted to pick her up. His biceps swayed as he struggled with her weight, his far smaller and untrained body simply lacking the power to do so. "This would be a lot easier if you'd just poofed."

"Bite me." She rolled her eyes. "Look, never mind. Clearly you are of awful, inferior strength. Just find me something that'll cover my body.

…

And thus, it began. Steven collected objects and whatever he deemed necessary to help the Homeworld gem. It began with a tent, then a torch. A stuffed bear which she seemed to be completely confused by, which led onto him bringing an entire family of plush animals and toys to her. She was prideful. Refusing to cooperate, initially, however, as the week progressed, Steven became used to catching her interacting with the lifeless companions with limbless gestures.

He had managed to recover an arm section, but that was about it. It was good to see her grow closer and closer to a smile each and every day. The more things he brought to the tent (aptly now named 'Peri-Tent' by the boy), the more she grew intrigued by what Earth culture meant. All these things seemed so meaningless, really. No use as weaponry or truly any practicality. But… He seemed enthused by them, and while reciprocation was initially near impossible, Peridot couldn't help herself.

She had obviously read up on Earth culture prior to the miniscule invasion attempt. Being one of the select gems to have knowledge on this part of the galaxy that reached beyond Rose Quartz and the gem war. However, with every passing moment alongside the almost always enthused human sapling, it became more and more clear all the data she'd been given was fiercely out of date.

Humans now lived in large columns, much like termite larvae. Bundled together in odd communities scattered across the globe. This was somewhat similar to gem culture of her world, however, what differentiated was the seeming desire for some form of equality. It seemed stupid to her that humans didn't have a caste system. Steven mentioned an army, but how were the mammalian bipeds supposed to differentiate between which class of human would be strongest to pick? How was the royalty decided, if not by careful blood selection and breeding? Their warriors were mutts. Just like the rest of humanity, they had no specific genetic class aside from a social one, but even this baffled her. Why was it determined by the number of currency one beheld? Currency was previously a simple matter of where a gem made her place on the caste, how many slaves she owned and how the Diamonds had bred her. These… Things had cumbersome numerical values. What a relic.

"It's called money. I brought you some to take a look at. See? You have coins and you have paper notes, and if you want something, you trade it for these!"

It made no sense. What would anyone do with these 'dollars'? No other part of the universe traded with shedded tree fabric. Why did they have imprints of men? Surely all this would do was stunt development of humankind as a species. Instead of being driven by conquest, they would spend their meaningless mutt lives chasing dollar after dollar, looking for ways in which to spend system money. And they wasted these bits of currency on such pointless things, too!

Technology was laughable. Steven had attempted to show off his communication device. It was simple, really. A pocket sized wailing stone from the looks of it. Why humans would choose such awful, grainy methods of communication based on what appeared to be even more disgustingly old technology was far, far beyond Peridot. These beings were stupid. Sentimental.

Oh, yes. Sentimental.

Gem romance was a thing. It occurred and was by no means a rarity. They had feelings, afterall. However, it too was an antiqued notion in civilised, current Homeworld society. Feelings were irrelevant, albeit not forbidden. A social faux-pas, really. Most gems had no time for it. Fusion was unheard of besides in secret lab experiments among the war criminals, or in fetishized lore. It was unthinkable, what with all that technology had replaced. Gems on the homeworld worked. They had been bred to work. Servitude to the Diamonds was top priority ever since formation, and doing caste based jobs was second. That was how gems were so successful. Clean, clinical and direct in their business.

Humans were completely different.

Steven didn't appear to want to discuss romantic details; Peridot pushed that aside as a factor of him being too young for the human breeding age (that much she actually knew about homosapiens). But he spoke of his father and how he'd seen his friends kiss. Kissing. That was an odd embrace. Humans appeared to be far more open, allowing themselves to somehow let go of inhibitions most gems would see as cages, and declared their bonds through public ceremony. It seemed far too overblown and grand for her. But, really, with all the strangeness that humans beheld, she couldn't put it past them.

Humans were dirty. They didn't reserve themselves. They had little purpose. They'd barely made it past their own pathetic Luna of a moon, and yet they waged civil planet wars against one another. They were like an ant farm to watch from behind the glass. So crude and barbaric and, well, stupid and undeveloped. She smirked. How easy this all would have been without the Crystal Gems. Even they were pathetic. They'd 'won' on a simple chance. A miscalculation on her part, which stung. Humans weren't supposed to have made it. They weren't meant to be a thing that were here.

And yet, here she was, talking to Steven, who'd declared himself to be a half-gem.

Rose Quartz was a fool. Just like the human she'd fallen in love with.

…

It had been a week. Steven snuck out every day, saying he had a playdate to get up to. At first, the gems had been preoccupied by their search for Peridot to really take all that much notice; after all, Steven had been enjoying playdates with Connie and several of the other youngsters of Beach City for many months, and it wasn't much out of the ordinary.

Pearl watched the boy go as she had her morning cigarette. Her ritual had grown more frequent as she stressed over the threat of the wanted Homeworld gems. At first she'd watched the boy come and go on his bicycle with affection, inwardly wishing him to have a good day out.

This changed when the phone rang.

It was a lazy Friday afternoon. Pearl nervously sat at her Sudoku, once again. She'd nearly finished the book. She heard the ringing down the hallway and picked the handset up. "Yes, hello?"

"Uhm, hi? Oh, it's you, Pearl!"

"Connie? Is everything alright? Do I need to go get Steven?"

"What? He's not with me. That's why I was calling. I haven't seen or really spoken to him for the past week. I was just calling to ask if he wanted to arrange to meet up sometime because he always says he's busy on texts and I got worried if he'd begun to think everything was too dangerous again."

"Steven… Steven's been on playdates all week." She took in a sharp inhale. If he wasn't with Connie for an entire week, then who was he with? He had aforementioned other friends, but she wasn't entirely comfortable with him heavily hanging out with the teenagers since his fiasco in Peridot's pod.

"Oh." She sounded… Hurt.

"Don't worry. I'll tell him to arrange something when he gets back, alright? How's the swordfighting going? Still practising, I hope. I'll need to assess you on your progress, soon."

They chatted for a while. Pearl liked Connie's company a fair deal. Especially since she'd taken the child under her wing. It was a human interaction she could nurture and teach, which was what she excelled at.

However, the call led her suspicions arise.

Indeed. Pearl was suspicious.

 **A/N: Aaaand here's where the plot thickens! Haha!**

 **Comments are always adored. Thank you so much for the support so far!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six- Seatide Heart**

"Okay, guys! I'm heading out! I'll see you later." The door closed. Pearl was at the ready.

There was a familiar touch at her shoulder. She sighed and looked backwards. "Yes, Garnet?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I just want to make sure he's alright. Like you said before, he's impressionable to his human companions. I've been on edge ever since he rode that pod." She replied hastily to the burgundy gem. "We can't have him at danger like that."

"Pearl. He is a gem. He's growing up. He needs to experience some things for himself."

"But he's also young. He needs to be nurtured and I don't want him to be unsafe." She shrugged Garnet's hand off. Only to see the fusion's face fall, hurt. She sighed. "I'm sorry. Everything is just a mess these days and I'd rather nip it in the bud before it gets worse. I'm only going to see what he's doing and if he's in good hands, I'll leave him to it."

"Fine." Garnet gave her stoic reply, characteristically unreadable. "But if you don't like it, promise you won't hurt anyone. If it's a human, they won't heal as fast."

"You know that I know that. Now, let me follow him. I'll be back to help look for Peridot in a while."

….

Steven grinned as he rode his way to the spindle. The leaves were beginning to turn. He'd finally convinced Peridot to allow him to use his healing powers on her arm, which still didn't function properly and clung off her body in an awkward way. At least it would be progress from the rest of her stumps.

The tent, as always, was sealed as he came into its view. He rang the bell several times to let her know of his presence, and smiled as he saw the canvas folds of the tent itself shift and shake as Peridot eagerly lifted herself up inside.

"Peridot! Guess what I got! I brought you some books and stuff, and a first aid kit! It probably won't do much, but… Maybe I can stick something on your other hurts!"

The canvas zipped open as the green gem opened it with her teeth. Desperate times had called for desperate measures and she was determined not to let her lack of limbs phase her progress. Besides, if Steven's powers worked, she'd be closer to regaining full control of her form. "Greetings, Steven." She said, hobbling out.

"Were you sleeping? Sorry if I woke you up!"

"Sleep?" Another human construct, she presumed.

"Oh, right. The gems don't really need to sleep like we do." He smiled as he set his bike down and sat beside her on the grass. "It's that thing you do where you lose consciousness and rest for a while and get weird dreams… Kinda like visions."

She blinked. "You must mean hibernation. No, I was merely relaxing. Sorry, I wasn't aware of the human dialect for them. Although, I may be able to astrally project to the Homeworld if I gave it a go." She then shook her head. What was she saying? "Pah. It's too far away. I'd never connect all the way back home. The closest I'd get to would be the Andromeda project, and they're all buffoons. Never send lower class gems to do a higher class job."

"Well, I have no idea what you're talking about, but the other day I dreamt I spoke to Lapis!" He smiled, lifting books out of her bag, alongside a few comics.

"…You projected to another gem?"

"Yeah! She and Jasper both spoke to me. It was crazy! Though, I'm worried for both of them."

Peridot couldn't believe this. "Jasper's alive? I need to find her! Where is she?"

"Oh, right. I didn't tell you. They fused into Malachite and… Are kind of stuck at the bottom of the ocean. If we can't find them, it's not likely you can, either, especially in your state. Though, you could use your technology when you're all better!"

She remained silent, too shocked to speak. So, that's what Jasper had gotten up to. The stubborn, stupid fool. She cursed her. Why would she try something so reckless? Especially with her already being a… She shook her head. Everything was too much to think about. And Lapis. That prisoner. Jasper hated her, and what she had done as a traitor in protecting the boy. Why? The fusion was incompatible! It was toxic!

She couldn't believe it at all. It couldn't be true.

"Peridot?" She was lifted from her thoughts by a concerned Steven. "You okay? You're… Worried about them, aren't you?"

"Jasper is capable of fending for herself. She was my escort and guard. I couldn't care less." She spat. She hated rashness. It was the one trait she couldn't stand of the bright orange gem. "If she couldn't be bothered to listen to me in telling her to keep her thoughts cool, then that's her fault."

"But they're your friends!"

She stopped. Friends? _Friends?_ Gems didn't have friends. Allies, maybe. Someone who didn't kill them. Perhaps someone to clean with or discuss tech advances, but besides a feverish, hot romantic attraction (again, a rarity), there was little room for anything of the sort on Homeworld. She only knew of the concept really through what Steven had described. It made no sense.

Friendship was a spectrum that was just too wide for her to comprehend. Too primitive and unneeded.

She finally replied. "They're not my friends."

"Oh. Okay. Sorry." She couldn't help but flinch at the upset in his tone. Had she hurt him? Peridot looked up to find him smiling again. "Hey, wanna try fixing that arm of yours?"

….

Pearl had followed him out of the City perimeter, getting more anxious as she lagged behind to make sure she was unseen. How strange. He hardly ever went out there. It was dangerous to be alone so close to such a busy road. She made a mental note to lecture him on the issues of gems crossing the road, having had Amenthyst get hit by a car several times after Greg had coaxed the gems to explore the area outside the City.

She climbed a tree with ease and hopped from branch to branch in her graceful manner, drawing out her spear to use as a balance and then hooking it between two branches in order to swing herself to another treetop like a gymnast. The sun beat down on her spine as wind rushed past her pulled back hair.

She was greatly enjoying this. Wait. Steven. She found his bicycle tracks that led to a small subsection of the woods. What in the world was he doing so far out?

She finally spotted him, next to a jolly looking tent that had been perched up in a plain area. She hopped to a closer tree and rested her hand, index finger touching her forehead gem, to get a clearer sight without the sun in her eyes.

She nearly fell out of the goddamn tree.

Peridot sat there. Limbless, except for one portion of her arm dangling by her side. She appeared to be chatting to the boy rather casually. What was Steven DOING? She had to restrain herself from pouncing on the gem. How had Peridot manipulated him like this? Was this what he had been doing all week?

She gasped as Steven licked his hand. He couldn't be…

Why was he trying to heal her? Peridot? Who had tried to kidnap the Crystal Gems and take them for… Horrors beyond her imagination back at the Homeworld?

There had been few times she'd felt truly betrayed.

First, Rose.

Then, the quick horror as Lapis Lazuli had taken up Jasper's offer to fuse.

But this. This was on another league. No, Steven couldn't be doing this willingly. Her eyes grew wide. He picked up the green arm and swiped the saliva coated palm over its surface, earning a shiver from the other.

There had to be something at play. Mind control. Evil forces. Something! She couldn't stand any longer as Peridot moved her arm and exclaimed as it functioned. No. Pearl had to interrupt this terror.

She screeched as she flung her body off the tree and thrust out her spear, poised to attack. The two turned to her, aghast. Peridot gave an uncharacteristic whimper, absolutely bricking it with fear. She attempted to move, but couldn't. Steven stood up, equally frantic. "Pearl, stop!"

"Get OUT of my way, Steven!" She hissed and jumped up to spear the defenceless emerald creature. Steven ducked backwards and threw his body to get into the line of fire between the two, causing a bright light to blind the scene as he summoned his shield out of pure matter. Pearl's eyes widened as she desperately tried to stop. Still in midair, however, she clashed the spear into the defence with full drive.

Steven felt his body knocking backwards from the force. Landing on the ground with the back of his head on the ground.

The last thing he heard were the frantic, shocked cries of the two gems as his consciousness dripped black.

Black.

And then, an azure blue.

 **A/N: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I'M AWFUL**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Just a warning, there's pretty clear references to abuse and physical harm in this chapter. My apologies**

 **Chapter Seven: Mermaid Dreams**

Steven's lucidity was beginning to astound him. The second his eyes opened, he knew exactly where he was. That nightmare. The walls shone deep hues of oceanic colours, and a deep luminescent green highlighted his body. As he treaded through the landscape, ripples appeared at his toes. He tried to recall what had sent him there, but was given no answer.

Still. He knew that this was where he'd find her. "Lapis Lazulli!" He curved his palms and called out. His voice echoed, and for a few moments, everything was so still, Steven thought he was completely alone.

"What will it take to make you go away, Steven?" A shrill voice yelled from behind him.

Steven turned to face her. She was arguably one of the prettiest gems he'd been able to see in his lifetime, even in her bedraggled state. Her hair was wild, tangled from her wrestling, body heaving as she held onto the anchoring chains. Her eyes dimmed of the light he'd seen when he'd saved her.

There were purple marks over her arms. Her calves. Even her face. He couldn't speak as he gazed over her form. It had become so broken, but was still holding up with strength the half-human could barely begin to fathom.

"I'm not going to leave. I want to help you. We all do!" He finally managed to reply. The shakiness in him replaced by pure adrenaline. "What has she done to you? You look… You look hurt."

"Please. Get away from here. You're making it harder for me to fight her!"

"You don't have to fight her alone!"

"I need to. Steven, why? Why can't you just listen?" Her anger turned to pleading. "You granted me the journey home and healed me. You helped me out of my prison. I am doing this for you!"

He stomped to her, hands in balls of frustration. "You're in just another prison, Lapis! You're literally in chains! I don't want you to do this for me! I want to let you be free again!"

She looked at him. Her eyes then closed and she gazed down. "I don't think I can be free." A cruel laugh. She was mocking herself. Her chains yanked and she heaved them up. "I've been a prisoner for too long, Steven. I… Thank you for what you've done, but…"

She submerged.

Oh. This meant one thing.

"You dare return?" Steven's blood ran cold. A shiver pounced through him. He swerved just in time to avoid Jasper's charge. The huge gem was yanked back by her chains, like a collared feral dog. She even snarled, baring her teeth.

Steven gritted his own. "Yeah." He said, his voice cutting the thick silence like a two storey cheesecake. "I do dare."

There was a glimmer in those yellow eyes. They shone in the green hued dark. Jasper was amused, it seemed as she stood, tall. Towering. The boy's sudden burst of courage was long gone. The gem was haggard and rough, her stripes and glare making her a tigress ready to jump and assimilate. Steven stood in front of a predator. "You're an awfully mouthy, puny thing, Rose."

"I'm not her." He said, voice faltering. He wished he could be braver. To scream in her presence. But he knew he was battling something far beyond him. Garnet, even with her… Total being, was taken down by this literal giant woman. "I'm sorry if that's who you're looking for."

"Shut up." She snapped, causing another shiver to go through him. "You really think you can fool me with your little lies? Your pathetic form won't do you any good. You showed me your shield. I remember it from the battlefield like it was yesterday."

"I'm telling the truth!" He yelped as she took another hulking step forward, snarling. "My name is Steven Quartz Universe. My mom gave up everything she was to make me."

"As if she'd give up anything to make something as pathetic as you!"

He couldn't reply. The Homeworld gems and their complete arrogance, their aggression, their insults… It all brought him to his knees. For years he'd endured the teasing of Lars, but at least he was able to accept Lars as a friend. Jasper… Jasper was different. She wanted him to feel attacked and broken. He couldn't…

He couldn't deal with it.

"D'awh. Don't tell me you cry that easily." Came the gruff jeer. "Come on. I punched your face and you showed more guts then. You know, Lapis and I share our thoughts now. It's another disgusting fusion thing, but it lets me pry into all her little secrets and fears." Steven glanced up in horror. He remembered being a fusion, himself. How pure and full of joy it had been to finally let Connie feel how he felt. To feel her play at his heartstrings and show him the nooks and crannies of her imagination.

He'd crossed the path of her mind with gentleness. Not pushing her too far. Like an elaborate dance between the two of them. There were parts she didn't want to see. The things she was too shy to share. And he'd respected that out of sheer affinity to her.

He took a hitched breath. Jasper hadn't respected that at all. He realised why she was so broken. Her mind had been forced to open for the large gem. Torn. Taken. The things she'd never wanted to reveal had been stripped from her. A violation of the worst, most horrible kind.

What Jasper had done was disgusting. It made him feel sick.

His cheeks flared. His eyes narrowed.

He screamed.

"Oh, yeah." The mocking returned. "She has a lot of feelings about you. It was sure nice of you to heal her with that disgusting spit."

"No." Jasper had forced Lapis to reveal that.

"She is doing all this futile struggling just to keep me from you. It's quite delicious, actually. Watching her squirm and writhe. She's almost as grimy as you are."

"Stop it!" He couldn't move.

"The best part is that I can project what I feel to her. So, knowing how much she cares about you, I've been managing to get control by showing her all the things I want to do to you. And oh, she gets so scared and worried. Her consciousness turns into freaking jelly. And then the reins are all mine to take."

He couldn't stand it.

No. He couldn't let this happen to anyone.

He bellowed, running to the enemy this time, his fists pounding her flesh.

"You _BITCH_!"

He bounced backwards as she swiped him away. He was a mere fly compared to her, but his sentiment seemed to have hit her. He hardly ever swore. He'd only heard language like that in movies he wasn't supposed to watch and when his dad was angry. He opened his eyes in time to feel himself roughly picked up.

Jasper had him by the scruff of his neck. It hurt, oh God, it hurt. As if she was tearing at his skin. Her eyes bore into his, rage glowering in them. "What," She spat, "Did you call me?"

He whimpered. Struggling only made him hurt worse. "A…" He couldn't say it again. It felt dirty. Wrong. Upon looking away to escape the glare, he realised that the gem most likely didn't know the gravity of the insult.

"Spit it out. Or, am I going to have to make you?"

"I don't… I-I don't want to."

She looked as if she were about to bite him. Lip curled as she scoffed and pounded his body onto the ground. The boy gave a shrill cry of pain. "Listen. I'm getting better at taking control. Soon, Malachite the fusion will be me, and Lapis will be long gone. And when it happens, I will destroy you. I will obliterate you filthy crystal gems, just as I obliterated _her_ and I will make each and every one of them watch as I tear you apart. You little _bitch._ " She then gave a guffaw. "Yeah. I like that, actually."

Steven screamed as a fist again collided with his face.

 **A/N: I want you all to remember that at its core, this is a redemption fic. Jasper isn't going to be the biggest foe Steven will have to face.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Six- Power and Control**

His eyelids fluttered open. His head screamed with the strain of an overwhelming headache, as if the drums of war were pounding inside his cranium. Steven tried to focus his vision as the blurs of colour turned to clarity.

"Yo, guys, he's awake!" He could hear Amethyst bellow. That was loud. Too loud. His forehead throbbed. However, it didn't ache as much as the sore at the nape of his neck. As his vision turned crystal, he realised the three other gems were surrounding him.

"Oh, thank heavens. I was so worried!" He didn't have much time to respond as Pearl wrapped her arms around his torso and squeezed tightly, burying her head into his shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to get you hurt. I'd never do that on purpose. I promise."

"It's okay." He croaked. His throat felt dry, like it had been eroded with sandpaper. "What happened?"

"You, young man," Said Garnet, her arms crossed, "Have a lot to answer for."

He squinted a little. Why did Garnet seem angry? Why was Pearl so worried? Even Amethyst seemed to have something playing at her features. Pearl continued the conversation as it turned to lull. "You were out for three days, Steven. We've all been so worried."

And then it hit him.

Peridot.

Lapis.

 _Jasper._

"What did you guys do with her?" He tried getting up, but found himself restrained under Pearl. He struggled weakly, his body still exhausted. His eyes pleaded at his captor, then Garnet. Not even Amethyst offered comfort in this. "No! She's trying to change! She's hurt! She needs our help!"

Garnet grunted in response. "She has done irreparable damage. You saw it yourself, Steven. That… Thing." He could tell by her tone she was still shell shocked by The Cluster. How could she not be? It had been terrifying. Hell, it had been equally as scary to see Garnet brought to her knees by that being.

"Peridot isn't that! She isn't The Cluster. She… She's just…" Everything pounded at him. He stopped trying to wriggle out of Pearl's arms. Looking down. "Just don't hurt her. She's already suffered. Please."

Pearl stroked at his hair. "You need to recover. Don't worry about Peridot. We're dealing with her."

"You're interrogating her!"

Amethyst shrugged. "She's not exactly being helpful. It's starting to piss us all off."

"Amethyst! Language!" Pearl snapped back to the shorter gem and then faced Steven. "Did Peridot do anything to you, Steven? Hurt you? Try and control you? It's very important that you're honest in case she did anything to your head."

"No! She just needed help and I gave it to her!" He replied, upset. "I… I wanna see if she's okay."

"That probably isn't the best idea…" Pearl pressed her lips gently against his forehead. "Please. You need to stay put for now."

"If she didn't do anything then why did you help her? Did you forget that Peridot tried to kidnap us into outer space and get us all in trouble?" Amethyst said, clearly distressed by the development. "What the hell, Steven? She could've hurt you really bad."

"Amethyst, he's still vulnerable-" Pearl shot back.

She was interrupted by Garnet who stepped forward. "She's right. Steven. This is unacceptable. These other gems are dangerous and bad news. You may have gotten lucky with Lapis being kind to you, but not every gem is going to be equally as generous in that."

"But she didn't hurt me! She couldn't! Peridot had no arms. She'd gotten hit by a car and wasn't able to recover right because her body got all over the place and she didn't want to go into her gem."

"What did you tell her about us, Steven? What if she reported back to Homeworld about what happened?" Pearl asked as she raised herself from the bed.

"She couldn't. Her fingers act as a telephone-y communication thing and without them, she couldn't do anything." He replied, looking away. "I just wanted her… Her to be good."

There was a pause as the rest of the Crystal Gems shared glances.

"We all know you did, Steven." Garnet stated. "But, some people and gems can't be good. They're corrupt and mean and will pretend to change just to get what they want from you. And that's what she did to you. That's what Peridot and the rest of the Homeworld gems are."

…

Her mind was in tatters. She desperately wanted to escape, from the pain. The humiliation. They'd chained her stumps to four corners, rendering her immobile. Peridot couldn't even move her neck, properly.

She hated them.

The Crystal Gems had been underestimated and she hated herself for falling for that. Once the kid was gone, their mannerisms to the enemy had changed. She was a threat to them. Something to hate. A target to throw darts at.

" _You know, you could always retreat back into your gem. That would make everything easy." Pearl said, fearless, as she drew a cut across her neck with her spear. Peridot choked, trying to strain away from it._

She couldn't poof. It meant defeat. It meant weakness. Her eyes shut as images filled her head.

Homeworld was savage to the weak. Anything less than perfection was not desired. The other Peridots she'd battled against to earn her place in society had been immediately crushed the second they'd retreated back to their natural form for regeneration, never to be seen again.

Poofing meant death. It meant the worst kind of unglorified end. It meant laughter at your name if you were ever referenced again. It was the most brutal kind of shame, and that was something she was afraid of.

" _What did you do to manipulate Steven to help you?" Garnet yelled. "How dare you? How could you stoop so low? After everything you've done to us. To him. Have you no shame?"_

She wanted to laugh, if she were not in such constant pain. She hadn't done anything to the boy. The Crystal Clods just wouldn't get that through their thick heads. The welts on her body from that acursed cat-o-nine-tails whip the purple one had left her with still stung. She knew Homeworld would do worse. Much worse. Perhaps she should be thankful.

The worst was yet to come.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine – Grasping at the surface**

Lapis knew she couldn't hold on much longer. Steven's presence, his pain, had brought her to the lowest parts of her imagination. She was struggling to deal with reality. Malachite was no longer in her grasp, her own chains dragging her down. Jasper had done what she'd promised, and eroded her over time. It had taken her a while of patient wait, drip feeding of nasty thoughts, but with resilience Lapis had underestimated from the brutish gem, Jasper had bullied her over the edge.

"What's wrong?" She mocked. Their internal conversations were now infrequent. At the beginning, Jasper had screamed, Malachite had tortured herself, constantly wanting to split but not quite being able to. She could feel Jasper tracing the back of her neck. "You ready to give up."

"I'll be ready to die before admitting defeat." She replied, voice cold.

A chuckle. She'd grown to hate that sound, but Jasper was genuinely amused. "You still think you're all high and mighty. Why don't you realise how the gem caste has changed? We have no more time for primitive Royals like you, Lapis Lazulli. You don't mean anything anymore."

"How can you say that? How can you try and strip me of the status that is my birthright? I am important." She cried out. Hurt. She didn't want to believe it. There had been a time Lapis gems were treated with the most absolute of respect. A time in which she had stood beside leaders. The Lapis gem was indeed historically a royal one, preserved only for the ruling classes to exploit. She'd been doomed a servant, but that of the highest decree. She was precious. Rare.

"We changed back in the homewold. You saw what had happened."

"You all turned ugly! You have no time for history or what it means. Homeworld has turned sinful."

"Homeworld is more powerful than ever!" She was pushed down. A great force on her back. "We realised that the old caste was useless and didn't let any room for growth. Our new system lets only the strong survive. If you'd stuck around, you'd have died because of your weakness."

"Then why don't you go back where you belong? In that ugly place with all the rest of you horrific brutes, and leave this world alone."

"Not with the remanants of Rose running around. That thing needs to be destroyed, vanquished and set as an example to all other gems who ever get the inkling of a thought of rebellion against the great forces of Yellow Diamond."

Lapis rolled her eyes. "You've been brainwashed. You all have. This isn't how gems are meant to be."

"It's how we've always been. Dominant. Ruthless. Supreme. You're the one that's changed into a compassionate waste of space."

She buried her head to her knees. "I think… I think that this is what I'd rather be."

…

Peridot blinked as she heard the sound of a primitive warp pad. The ones on the Homeworld had been programmed to broadcast war tunes to keep gems on missions during travel. God, she hadn't heard that sound for centuries and it still made her jump. The green gem didn't, however, raise her head as a presence came into the room.

She heard the pitter patter of light-weight feet coming closer. Ah, yes, the smarter one between them all. Perhaps the one she liked the least. Pearl had caused her to be caught. The one who'd seemingly taken the biggest part of her torture. Was she here to do further damage.

"Peridot."

She didn't respond, head still hanging low.

"Peridot." Her name was repeated. There was a gentleness she was unfamiliar to in that voice. A new form of psychological interrogation? "Listen. I feel we need to talk."

She snorted. Now they wanted to talk? After failing at torture. How bizarre these gems were. Pearl seemed hurt by her reaction. "Please don't laugh. I'm making an effort. Look at me."

She grunted as she felt a palm rest below her chin. A pale hand gently causing her gaze to lift. Pearl had light, innocent looking eyes with enough pain in them to make her shudder. Her touch was cold and her fingers smelt of forest and a bitter scent of something she couldn't quite recognise. It smelt like the roadside she'd laid on as she struggled away after getting hit. Peridot looked away. "What do you want now?" Her voice was small. She felt defeated and ashamed.

"I've been thinking."

"I thought such actions were beyond your capabilities."

"Your manners to mercy are appalling." That tone was scolding. It made the Homeworld gem cringe. "But yes, I have been thinking and mulling it over my mind a lot. Steven said you did nothing to hurt him when he found you. Can you confirm that?"

"I was weaker than ever, you stupid excuse for a lifeform. Look at me! I don't have any arms and I am never going to regenerate! What could I possibly do to one of you?"

"Well. That's one way to answer the question." Pearl gave a light smile. "Hold still, I'm going to try attaching your limbs back. We found most of them while we were looking for you. Unfortuately, they tried to crawl away which was likely why Steven couldn't find them for you."

Peridot's jaw dropped. "You're… You're what?"

"We're not letting you go. But fighting you is fruitless. You're… It's hard to explain. I'm just hoping no one else sees you until I can explain what I'm doing." Pearl then gave a harsh sigh. Placing a hand atop her gem as she looked away. "I don't even know what I'm doing."

"Why? Why would you…"

"Steven must have seen something in you in order to show you kindness. He's done it before. I didn't approve of it then, and I don't approve of it now. But something is telling me it's the right thing to do. He's just like his mother."

"Rose Quartz?" Pearl visibly flinched as Peridot whispered the name.

"You know about that?"

"Vaguely. The boy told me a little. I don't quite understand any of it, to be honest."

"Hah. Not many of us understand it, either. But… If she could find beauty in everything, then I have to try and respect that." Pearl grasped a green limb and fixed it into place. She then paused. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for her. And Steven."

"You seem to have a questionable affinity to Quartz." Peridot grunted as it was clicked in, biting her lip to avoid the pain escaping. Pearl stopped being quite as gentle.

"We don't talk about that. I'm certainly not going to talk about it with you." Her voice had turned more chilly. "Can you sense your fingers?"

"Yes. They're broken and painful. I can't move them much."

"That's probably for the best for now. When Steven recovers, I'll ask him to help."

This was all confusing her. Why? This same gem had taken absolute pleasure in causing welts and cuts over her form. Why was she attaching her limbs back? Why was she showing friendship? Peridot cried out as her first leg segment was reattached. "Shh." Pearl leaned up and stroked gently at her forehead, her hand brushing over the gem. "Please calm down. They're going to hear you."

The alien gem's artificial nerves were on edge. She felt like shuddering at the gentle touches. No one had ever been like this to her. Even Steven had kept a little distance in intimacy in order to prevent his hugs from damaging her more. Her wide, catlike eyes met Pearl's as she tried to relax into the rest of her leg being attached. She knew the ball joint of her kneecap was going to be the worst.

But… It wasn't. Pearl had turned more gentle. Softly clicking everything back in place, as if handling something fragile. "It's done. Everything is back in place. I can't undo your chains, but at least that might make you more comfortable for now."

Peridot's lip trembled. She felt an odd wetness at her eyes. Cheeks burning. Too many foreign emotions were slamming into her like a wave. Crashing her and pulling her over. She was sinking in these strange calamities. She felt Pearl's touch at her cheeks, wiping away at what she realised were tears. She didn't cry. Peridots and Homeworld gems weren't meant to cry. What was happening?

"Shh." That noise again. "It'll be okay. I promise. Just… Hold on. You have hope. Just give us what we want, and I promise we'll reciprocate."

This was the worst kind of torture technique she'd faced. Peridot didn't have the protocol to deal with the emotions at her chest.

She caught her lips opening and words tumbling out before she could stop them. "T-Thank you."

Pearl seemed a little surprised. She then gave a smile. The kind of smile that made the green gem's heart flutter even more with some form of hope. "You're welcome, Peridot."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten- Fallacy of the fallen**

Pearl tred through the house. She couldn't sit still. The others had to know soon. She had to explain what she had done. If not, they'd think she was a traitor. Well, they wouldn't do anything, but they'd surely be upset. She needed to explain. She just didn't know how.

She still didn't know why she had done it.

Perhaps this was how Steven had felt. To take pity on the prisoner. Show empathy through her pain. Peridot's torture had been just as much torture on her. She couldn't stand to watch the gem limbless, suffering. It brought back too much of the war.

Pearl needed to tell Garnet. Make her understand. Perhaps, Peridot could change. Steven had tamed monsters before. He could do it again. Peridot would be smart enough to adapt to human culture, right? Or perhaps she was too smart. She was in a very able position to take advantage of the child's kind nature.

Ugh. She rested her back against a wall. She just didn't know enough.

Still. She'd seen Peridot cry. That was new. The space gem had suffered silently through her torture, barely giving any signs of being hurt. Is that how she'd been trained? Is that how Homeworld made soliders, now? By making sure their torture there would pale in comparison to the outside galaxy? The thought made her violently uncomfortable. But she had cried when she was treated with kindness. Homeworld had not managed to scrap out that part of her. She still had feelings.

Peridot would, indeed, be a useful ally with her knowledge. She could tell them Homeworld secrets and weaknesses after she'd become accustomed. Yes. But would she? Would her loyalty let the Crystal Gems fall to their doom?

She scrunched her eyes shut. They were doomed anyway. The fiasco at The Left Hand had merely been a scouting mission. Nothing more than a pebble of a mountain compared to Homeworld forces. They weren't an army. There was no way they would be able to stand up to anything like what was inevitably going to be on offer. Hell, they had difficulty just fighting corrupted gems on their own.

They needed inside knowledge more than anything.

She knew the others were in the house. She could hear their voices in the kitchen. She made her way slowly, brain churning on the thought of approaching the topic. She needed to be careful. Garnet was speaking, her voice still as usual.

"We need to find a way to get her to retreat into her gem. She's a danger if she is not bubbled soon."

Had Pearl actually had a viable human heart, it would have been at risk of myocardial infarction. Garnet's word was absolute. If she wanted Peridot bubbled, that was usually that. Her dread grew as Amethyst replied. "Yeah! She needs to be taken out and brought down! I dunno how she's managed to stay out of it for so long."

"It appears we need to intensify. I don't like it, but… She needs to pay for her crimes. That Cluster ordeal was too much."

"I don't get it. She's all weak anyway." Amethyst said casually. Pearl could hear by the munches inbetween words that she was eating again. At least that was some sign of normality. The purple gem had completely stopped upon them finding Peridot's fingers and limbs scattered through Beach City. "She should be ready to get in."

She couldn't take this any longer. Pearl strode into the kitchen. She was met with a gaze from Garnet, who fixed her glasses and nodded. "We're trying to figure out a way in which to make Peridot get back into her gem."

"I know. I heard." The pale gem replied, colder than intended.

"Geeze, what's got you so grumpy? We finally caught her!" Amethyst folded her arms as she tucked the rest of her sub into her mouth. "You were the one all scared by her running about and getting to shenanigans. You oughtta be happy."

"I… I don't think we're handling this right." The other two both raised brows simultaneously. Pearl sighed. "Is holding her this captive really the right thing to do?"

"In case you forgot, it's exactly what she did to us!" Amethyst said, stepping forward. "Don't tell me you wanna let her go!"

"I'm not suggesting that. All I'm saying is that by our treatment carrying on like this, we're not acting any better than them. This is not what Rose would have wanted."

"And how do you know what she wanted?" Amethyst snapped, getting much too close for comfort. Her teeth bared. "Don't start acting like you're her spiritual medium or some shit again! I hate it when you act that way!"

"You two." They both stepped back as Garnet called. "Stop it. We're in a delicate situation and infighting won't help. Pearl. Please, explain what you want us to do."

"Look, I'm not saying we should let her go freely, but there is a chance we could very well use her. She'll never become one of us, that's true. And she might not even help, but what other options do we have? She is stuck on this planet and you both know there will be more sent. We need all the information and help we can get before that happens. And clearly, interrogation isn't going to get her to spill."

"You want us to give her a chance." The tallest of the three spoke, lowly.

"Y-Yes. That's-"

"That's ridicilous! She could attack us! She already did! Why the hell would we want her help? We should just beat her up and bubble her now!" Amethyst ran a hand through her alabaster locks agressively.

"The future of Peridot needs to be a group decision. We are a team." Garnet spoke as Pearl opened her mouth to retort. "Both of you are bringing up valid concerns. But one thing is certain. There is a storm coming, and all of us need to be prepared for whatever happens. We have a priority. We need to protect. Both ourselves, the earth, and Steven. Our decision needs to be one that can fulfil all three to their best possible outcome."

However, as concerned glances were exchanged, the Crystal Gems knew one thing. The best possible outcome, however possible, still looked bleak. They were facing another war.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven – My Fair Lady.**

Steven had been confined to his bed for several days. He didn't know where the prisoner was, but suspected her to have been kept in one of the gem's cavernous private spaces. He himself felt like a prisoner, confined by his own injury. However, his mood was lifted when Connie came into view, carrying a basket.

He lifted himself a little, his recovery already underway. "Connie!" He beamed. "Hi! I didn't think you'd come to see me!"

She bounded to his bedside, resting the basket against the bed and sat beside him. "I kept calling and calling. Pearl finally picked up and told me you'd gotten hurt. I came here as fast as I could. Or, as fast as mom would let me." The two shared a laugh at this until the girl finally awkwardly stopped and looked over him with a concerned expression. "What's been going on? Why haven't you been talking to me? Is this about you being worried over my safety again, or?"

"No!" He shook his head. Ow. That still hurt. "It's nothing like that. I promise. I just… I found another gem. It was one of the ones who had kidnapped us. Peridot."

Her mouth turned to an 'o' as she brushed her thick bangs back, fixing her ponytail so that she'd have clear sight. "The technogeeky one? You said she was scary. What happened?"

"She'd gotten hit by a car and was really badly hurt! I wanted to help her out because her arms had fallen off. Yeah, that was weird, but she couldn't move or anything and she'd been stuck like that for days! I couldn't just leave her and I knew if I just brought her home Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl wouldn't have been nice."

"So… You were helping her out all week? Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you both out." She didn't appear to be angry. Just… Concerned.

"I know. I'm sorry. I think I've made a mistake. Not by helping her out, but by keeping it a secret." He looked downcast, rubbing at his arm. "But the others were keeping a secret, too. I think it had to do with them knowing Peridot was close but I didn't know that at the time. I was just angry because they didn't want to let me know, even after we all promised not to keep secrets."

She sighed lightly, shaking her head. "So, you decided it was fair you had a secret too."

"Yeah!"

"My parents always tell me that two wrongs don't make a right." She said after pausing for a few moments. Steven gave a nod at this- she was correct. But who could he have even told about all this? Everyone, even Connie, would have overreacted. "But, hey, I'm sure you've gotten your lectures from the gems. I brought you some goodies to help you feel better, just like you do with me! I didn't know if you had broken something or gotten sick, so I didn't bring anything… Specific. Check it out!"

As Steven and Connie were leafing through books and sucking on cool ice lollies, chuckling at their own jokes, the warp pad downstairs activated. Soon, the Crystal Gems had joined them in the bedroom, all standing just as equally awkward.

"Connie! Hello!" Pearl attempted a smile. She knew that the girl would turn up as soon as she'd heard news of Steven being bed bound. The gem wasn't exactly keen on having her present for the discussion that followed. It was too… Delicate.

"Hi!" She gave a smile, but then frowned as she too read the awkwardness in the air. "Should I…?"

Steven shook his head, gently taking a hold of her arm. "Whatever they have to say, I want you to hear as well. You know about everything now." The Crystal Gems shared expressions, but said nothing when Garnet gave a signature nod. The human female was an honorary member, at least for this discussion.

"We seem to have some split views on the future of Peridot." Garnet began, stepping forward. "And we need to fix that. Unity in our future decisions is important for our team. Pearl's raised concerns over the fact that we would benefit from knowledge of the Homeworld from Peridot. She's not talking to us through force."

Pearl continued. "You mentioned that she'd opened up to you about technology and little things when you spoke to her, Steven. We assume that it was your nature and friendliness that got her to open up. Clearly, she's much less reluctant to keep information hidden if we attempt to get it out of her peacefully."

"I still think we should wreck her." Amethyst stated, earning a collection of disapproving expressions to which she replied with a shrug. "What? I don't like being kidnapped."

"Neither do I." Garnet said, crossing her arms. "I do not wish to befriend her after her actions, and I also think that she poses a major threat to both this planet and the Crystal Gems, but it's safe to estimate Homeworld sending more forces. We need all we can get, and if it means showing mercy to her, I would allow myself to go along with kindness towards her."

"The question we need to decide is whether or not we give her a chance." Pearl finally concluded. "I already raised my vote as yes, and I suspect that you're probably going to say so, too, Steven. Right?" There was a pause. Pearl's brow furrowed as Steven seemed to ponder. Surely this shouldn't be a hard decision to make for the boy? He'd already helped her. "Steven?"

"We can't treat her like a prisoner. I know that's what you're all going to do."

"But that's what she is." Garnet replied to him.

Connie gave a delicate counter. "I think what he means is, she's not going to be friendly if you're going to be actively hostile. I don't know what you're doing to her now, or how you're treating her, but if you're going to give her a chance, you need to try and be nice."

"I ain't gonna be nice to that thing." Amethyst stomped her foot down. "She's like a more annoying version of Pearl."

"Hey!" Pearl quipped, flushing.

"Focus." The tallest of them spoke. The fusion lifted her head to the children. "If that's the case, I agree. However, due to our already apparent prejudice, it will be difficult. At least until she earns our respect enough. She's done things to hurt us on a very deep and emotional level, you see."

"Garnet, you don't have to-" Pearl clutched at her forearm, gently. Anticipating what she had to say.

"No. If she knows this much, she might as well know what I feel. Connie. Fusion is very important to me. These gems do not respect what I am. What we, the Crystal Gems, are. They have participated in doing horrific war crimes against their own kind, forcing them to fuse unwillingly. That is disgusting and despicable. You were a fusion with Steven. You need to understand how hard it will be for us as a collective to forgive her. It's already difficult enough for us to give her any lack of hostility. We were enraged when we found out Steven showed her mercy."

"Slam dunked by the G!" Amethyst hollered, pumping her fist. "That gem treated us as a prisoner and beat us up without thinking."

"Yes, that's another thing. Pearl has said that treating her similarly would not make us any better. But she needs to pay."

"She's already paid!" Steven sighed. "She was damaged. That meant a lot to her. She can't contact any help and she can't do anything. Peridot probably feels all useless."

This silenced both the opposing gems. Amethyst looked away. "I guess we did give her a beat up as well."

"Exactly." Pearl gave a smile. Things were going in her favour. "It's time to give her a fresh start. Come on, it isn't exactly as if we popped onto this planet being human rights activists. She needs to be shown the wonders of the world. And I'm sure Steven can help."

"I can help him, too!" Connie grinned, nodding to the boy, who was currently smiling.

"Amethyst?" Garnet turned her head. "Your opinion?"

"Fine. But if she steps one foot out of line, I'm onto her."

"Likewise." Came a nod from the fusion. "We will give her strict boundaries to follow. If she oversteps them at any point, she will be destroyed. Are we clear?"

And thus, it was decided. Peridot the prison gem would be given a chance. A very conditional, harsh chance.

 **A/N: As you can probably tell, I really enjoy writing as the kids. Bless their lil' hearts. They're so ready to help Peridot change for the better.**

 **Thanks for all the support so far! Comments and reviews are always adored. See you next update!**

 **Ronnie.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve – The Floods of Change**

The warp pad activated once more. Peridot was now becoming used to the sound. She arched her head forward, hoping for Pearl. Maybe Steven. Her stomach turned as she heard numerous footsteps, and the Crystal Gems came into sight.

"She has her arms." Garnet stated.

"I reattached them as a gesture of friendship. She couldn't be comfortable dangling off with just the ends of her limbs." Came back a whispered reply from Pearl.

"Fine. Peridot. Listen to us." The fusion stepped forward. "We are here to speak. If you cooperate this time, we have propositions to make your life a lot more comfortable."

She glanced between all three of them. Pearl gave her an encouraging look, while Amethyst stared her down. The mixed signals were making her uncomfortable as all hell. She finally spoke. "What do you want?"

"We wish to give you your options first." Garnet pulled out a pink bubble. "This is one of the shards of the gems you forced to fuse as a part of the cluster. We are keeping her inactive and captive by not allowing her to move from this bubble. If you do not accept our terms, we will not hesitate to break you until you retreat and force you into one of these. Is that clear?"

Peridot stared down at the bubble in horror. If she didn't comply, would that be her fate? Would that be how she would be kept for the rest of eternity? A crippled prisoner within her own gem? She shuddered, grimacing. No. That kind of entrapment made her feel violently ill. She never wanted that kind of life. She'd rather die. The gem would rather cease to exist than be forced to do that.

"Your other option is one we'd all find preferable. Even you, I'd imagine." Pearl spoke out loud. Peridot couldn't stare away. She spoke with no fear at all, just as she had when they'd first landed on Earth. Her stance was wide, as if she were about to commence a duel. Her eyes aflame. Hands at the ready. "We will release you from your bondage and allow you to walk freely within set parameters of the house. You will still be a prisoner, but with a lot more freedom. You will, however, have to comply rules. There will be places you are restricted from. You may not exit unescorted. You will be forbidden from accessing any weapons, or using the warp pad. We will expect you in due time to reveal aspects about yourself and the Homeworld to aid us in our protection. We understand that this will be considered treason and that you may not comply because of this, but in return we offer shelter, protection, a chance of freedom and to further your knowledge of this sector of the star system."

Peridot's head sank. She couldn't face them. "You disrupted my mission completely. To Homeworld, I am useless. I will be disposed of if I dare show my face back there. No offence intended, but to have my rear end kicked in by a group as primitive as yourselves will land me in great shame within our newly formed society."

"Oh, Heavens. Peridot…" Pearl gasped. Amethyst punched her on the arm with a glare. Pearl gave a nod. This wasn't the time to act sentimental. "Then, do you agree with our terms? You have nothing to lose and a chance of our trust to gain. We even offer the chance to allow Steven to continue fixing your wounds and tending them enough to allow you to be mobile."

"Yes. I agree to your terms."

Garnet gave a smile at this. There appeared to be an air of concealed relief. The tallest gem then said. "Good. But, before we allow you free from your position, we ask for one thing. Two, really, but it has one purpose." Peridot winced. What could they possibly be asking for? "We demand you apologise to both us and Steven for your actions and intentions."

"And you'd better be meaning it, too!" The green gem winced again, Amethyst's tone was exactly the same it had been during her interrogation. "You've got a lot to answer for!"

The three stared at her, expectantly. Peridot looked away and flushed. This wasn't that difficult, was it? She swallowed. She had previously apologised to Steven with no issues for causing him to panic. Was she even sorry, though? She was simply following directive. Going by what she'd been ordered to do. The Crystal Gems had simply been something to get out of the way. There had been nothing truly nasty she'd done to them.

They still stared. What were they expecting her to apologise for? Doing something that wouldn't get her killed? Apologise for Homeworld and how they had grown to see Earth? She wasn't responsible for that. The Cluster had been her mission, overall. War Crimes on Earth was her specialty, and those buggers had gotten what they deserved.

"We're waiting." She heard Amethyst call out.

"I'm… Sorry?" She attempted to sound genuine. Pearl met her eyes and gave her the most pleading of looks.

Garnet snapped, tone sterile in nothing but anger. "For what?"

"For… Trying to invade. Being here. Being a victim of Homeworld."

"You're not taking any responsibility for your actions!" Garnet bared her teeth, drawing her fists to her sides. Pearl looked side to side, mouth slightly agape as if trying to mend the situation.

"I don't see anything which I am responsible for."

"You tried to kill us! You kidnapped us, and hurt us!" Amethyst bellowed, taking her weapon out of the gem at her breast. "You brought those lazers down on us and didn't care if we'd get killed. We were all trapped and terrified and you didn't give a single flying fuck. That's what you did! You behaved like a ruthless monster! That's what you are!"

"I tried to kill you because I had no other choice I saw fit." She replied, tone as steady as she could keep it. "We took you on board for your trial because my _wonderful_ escort demanded to have you there. We could have left you, but you wouldn't let that brat just go with us. Fine. I'll apologise for what I am. But, again, I am a product of Homeworld socialisation. I am sorry if I don't fit into your moral mold."

As the other two got ready to charge, Pearl grabbed a hold of Garnet. "Stop it! She doesn't know any better! She's right." Peridot had closed her eyes, anticipating her torture to return. She stopped shrinking away as Pearl continued. "She can't apologise if she hasn't seen what she was about to destroy. She can't be held accountable for Jasper's actions."

Garnet snarled. "She didn't do anything to stop those actions."

"As if I could try! I never wanted the brute to even come with me! You've seen the size of her! What was I meant to do? Jump to your rescue? I would have been made a prisoner, too." Peridot replied, angry. "Look. I'm not trying to make excuses. What's done has been done. I apologise for any pain you may have felt, but I will not hesitate to defend my culture and how it has taught me to deal with what you Crystal Gems represent. Do you expect me, us, the entire Homeworld populace to just forget the war? Your rebellion? We still sing songs about how we hate Rose Quartz. If it had been any other gem, they would have been tenfold more ruthless. I am being as sincere as I possibly can, but I just… Don't see what there is to say sorry for!"

There was a lull. A silence that lasted almost another century. The gems stood, hesitant. Thinking. Garnet sighed. "You're right."

Amethyst turned on her heel. "You what? You're just going to let her say that?"

"Amethyst, please. We are trying to negotiate with her." Pearl snapped.

"She doesn't understand the damage she's trying to do. It's clear, now. It's just like the way they now see fusion. We aren't anything to her." Garnet swallowed a sigh. "She isn't apologising because she just doesn't know."

"And you really think we can change that? What if she starts pretending to care?" The purple gem yelled out.

"And what if we had treated you the same way?" Pearl stepped forward, an intense glare fixated on her features. "You had never fought for our side. You had been… You'd been bred by them to destroy this planet! But we gave you shelter, didn't we? You, out of all of us, should be the one with the biggest moral obligation to help her change her mindset!"

"Shut up!" Screamed Amethyst, striking her hands upon the pale gem. "How… You… You shut the hell up!"

"Face the truth, for once, will you?" Pearl shot down a stare. "Or are you going to keep trying to supress the facts of your past when it's convenient for you? Look at her. She's just the same as you were."

Amethyst gave her a furious stare. "She had a choice. I never, ever did." And with that, she stamped away, huffing. As the warp pad signified her leave, both of the remaining Crystal Gems stood. Uncomfortable and fazed by the developments.

"I apologise you had to see that." Garnet finally stepped forward and walked to the locks by the chains, transforming her hand into a key. "We've all been under a lot of stress. I guess it's all coming out now."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen – Quenching the Drought**

"I sure wish I could use my healing spit on myself." Steven sighed as he opened a cupboard to retrieve crayons and colouring pencils for a small fill-in book Connie had brought him alongside the novels. He'd already gone through several, but no longer felt like reading and was well enough to move a little within his home. He heard a woosh and stumbled a bit as he dropped a white crayon, which he promptly picked up and dusted off. "Don't worry. Not everyone might love you because they don't think you're useful, but you're still good to me."

He made his way to the kitchen where he'd set up the book on a page with cartoon characters that needed to be finished off and settled down, taking a sip from a juice box. However, the second he heard a cry, his finger pinched the crayon so hard that it snapped. That was… Peridot. He muttered a quick apology to the now bent crayon and raced over to the living room.

Garnet and Pearl were setting the prisoner aboard the sofa. The pale gem looked up as the child ran towards them. "Steven, you're up! That's good. You feeling better?" She chirped.

"Peridot! You have your arms back!"

The gem glanced up. Surprised, but gave a kind look. "Yes. Thanks to her." She nodded to Pearl.

"Oh, it was nothing. I figured she'd need them."

Peridot groaned as she was placed down. Her legs too hurt to support her. "Their insides must be malfunctioning. That's a bother. Still. It's good to… It's nice to see you here, Steven."

Garnet grunted. "Don't even think about disobeying him. He's a Crystal Gem and you will respect him just as much as us." The lime gem frowned at this, hating the condescending tone. But did not reply. She was still shocked by their generosity. "She has been allowed out of her chains and is free to go wherever within the home, excluding the temple and outside without escort. She will be your responsibility when we are not watching her, Steven."

Peridot looked around the home as Steven raced off to where he had come in from. Her mind taking in details. Everything looked very unfamiliar. Both in regards to technology and design. It wasn't necessarily crude, but it all had… An unpolished feel. She couldn't quite put a disattached finger on whether she liked it or not. The sofa felt strange, too. It was soft, pillowy. She didn't quite know what to make of it. What to make of anything. Was this how they all lived? Within soft, cushiony dwellings? She had no time to ask questions as the gems left the room in heated discussion over a new mission. Blinking, she wondered what sort of missions these gems would have. Were they looking to acquire Jasper, too? That would prove to be difficult in any case.

Steven returned with his assortment of pencils and book. "Look! I'm just about to colour in! I'll let you have some pages, too. And then we could play games, and watch T.V. and read some books and we could have all sorts of fun together!" She had no idea how to respond. Aside from the mention of games, she wasn't really aware of what he was on about. The boy hopped onto the sofa, showing off the book. There appeared to be black and white prints of various animals with exaggerated anthropomorphic features. She found it rather disturbing to contort creatures into this sort of manner, but they appeared to be smiling and happy. Perhaps they appealed to juvenile earth dwellers. She winced as he ripped a page out and dangled it in front of her face. "Here! You can have this one. He's my favourite!"

"What do I do with it?"

"Oh, you haven't coloured before? I guess not. That's okay, it's easy! You take one of these…" He pulled up a stick from his box and handed it over. It was lime green in colour. Peridot smirked at this. "See? It's like you. And then you scribble it over the page to fill in the animal! But you don't go out of the lines."

Ah, an artistic pursuit. The latter part confused her a little. "Surely that would limit one's expression within the exercise."

"Well… You could colour in the background if you wanted!"

"Alright." She nodded. She understood this much. She attempted to pick up the crayon in a similar fashion to Steven but then winced. "Ah! That hurts."

"Oh, your fingers must still be broken. Here. Lemme fix them." Much like before, he rubbed saliva on his palm and spread it over her digits. She cringed. This spread of body fluid was still a grimy tactic, however, a positive, useful one as it indeed made her shiver and her pain disappear. "There we go! Good as new."

She gave a thankful nod. "Yes. They're operating well."

"No problemo!" His choice of wording confused her. Was this an idiolect? Putting an 'o' at the end of problem?

"No problemo." She repeated, faintly, and then got to work on colouring the animal in. She soon mastered the use of the crayon under Steven's guidance, working diligently on the cartoonish puppy.

She found herself smiling at the work, watching the rough colour transfer onto the paper. This stick allowed some form of pigment to be pressed into the paper, sensitive of her touch. It allowed for control and expression, something she'd been far too reserved in and had never really had much of a chance at before. She held the paper against her lap, fingers drumming the thin sheet. Her mind pondered on what exactly the thing was made of. It felt too organic, too light to be made of rock or any other dense substance. It felt cool at her touch, the corners sharp enough to be used to cut. This worried her some, as she recalled the rule of not being allowed to have weapons but figured that if anyone asked, she'd say she hadn't known any better. After all, that seemed to have been working thus far.

"Wow! That's looking so good!" She caught an exhale as Steven looked over, moving close. His words made something in her chest warm, her eyes moisten. No one had ever congratulated her on something so small and useless. Infact, the only other time she had ever been praised was when she'd gotten a victory. When someone else had been hurt.

That's when she realised that Homeworld only truly celebrated a victory in which there was a losing party that wasn't the majority. How strange. She didn't express any disapproval to this, of course. It seemed only natural, but the thought itself still lingered. She was able to cause the lad to smile over something that meant so little. And therefore, it meant so much. "Thank you." She replied, glancing over at his work. It wasn't bad, albeit a little more rough than hers. It had its own shape, style. It was just colouring, but it showed her what Steven was. Jubilantly coloured, carefree and done with purpose. "Yours is very interesting."

"Aww, you sound like you don't like it!" That was strange. She'd given no word of such disapproval. The boy still seemed upset by words which back at home would have made her day. Oh well. Such crudeness in manners was to be expected.

"Obviously I do. It interests me. And that takes something."

"Ohh! I get it. Thanks, Peridot. I'll try making something else interesting."

Ah. Good. Perhaps she could help the boy make some development. Yes. He too could change for the better. She nodded with determination. She would teach Rose Quartz's rebirth to think just like a civilised gem and show the others that even unarmed, she was useful.

Peridot liked being useful.

…

The room was littered in pieces of coloured in paper. Peridot had gotten more and more adventurous with her backgrounds. Drawing bits of earth like Steven did as he scribbled zigzags of grass reminded her too much of her limbless days on the ground. Thus, she'd resolved the blank space by drawings of galaxies and star formations, each of which she explained to the boy. That one, they had captured a millennia ago. This one was currently under siege. This particular star had taken them a while to conquer because of the protection of a particularly barbaric race on a planet next door.

The boy had listened with complete attention, much to her ego's stroking. She liked it when she was listened to, particularly in such an attentive way. His eyes were practically shining as she went into gem lore over a few of them, however, he seemed much too upset whenever it came to grizly deaths. Odd, these were usually favoured by younger gem warriors. She therefore avoided the one Jasper had a whole illustrated version of, and stuck more to the stories of the adventures of fearless captains and how they'd thwarted their threats.

"See? This is where they sneaked in." She pulled up a picture of a crocodile with a bright orange star system drawn meticulously in the background. "They had to be incredibly careful or the enemy would notice the troop and send their gas attacks straight at them. They had the ability to burn anything they touched. The command would have been ruined otherwise."

"How did they do it?" Steven asked, his head resting on his palms as he laid on the floor. "There's no way they could have gotten in without getting noticed."

"Ah, but the enemy had once again underestimated the power of gem technology. We fooled them by masking our ships to match their colour scheme. I think Jasper was involved, since she probably would have blended right in. We made sure they didn't catch the heat of our ship by putting on a shield which reflected the heat right back at them! The ships of the Homeworld ploughed straight in and destroyed their capital, holding their leader under siege. Yes, it was a glorious day for gemkind."

"Wow!" Ah, yes, that expression. He appeared to say it when his cranium was overloaded with something spectacular. Since the child was so easily impressed, that was a lot. She gave a satisfied look at the reaction, however. "That's so cool!"

"On the contrary. It was extremely hot."

He picked up the juice box and took a sip, giggling. "Hah, you're so funny sometimes!"

She allowed her head to tilt a little as she looked at the tiny carton. He had been sucking at the small straw a little every now and then. She hadn't see him do this before. How strange. "Hey, what is that?"

"My juice? Oh, try some! It's really nice! This one has pineapple and mango. Zesty _and_ comfortingly sweet!" He reached out with the small box and she tentatively took it in her hands. "I guess you probably don't know what juice is, then."

"No, I do not." She nearly turned it upside down as she inspected it. The sloshing sound lead her to believe there was a runny liquid inside.

"Well, uhm. On this planet, we have all sorts of trees."

"I'm aware of what those are."

"Yeah, and some trees and plants sometimes have little baby plants and they're called fruit and some of them are edible but some aren't and might be poisonous."

"That seems remarkably dangerous."

"Yeah, but we know which ones are safe! So, we take them, and squish them, and stuff comes out! Then we put the juice that comes out and put them in little boxes and hey presto! You have a juice box. It tastes really good!"

"You drink the blood of saplings? This race was more brutal than I thought."

"No! It's not like that. They don't feel things." He then stopped. "Or… Do they? Uh… Well, whatever, it tastes really nice and I like the flavour."

"Huh." She put her lips to the straw. "Do I just inhale?"

"Kinda. You need to drink it."

The gem gave a puzzled look. "And what benefit does this… Juice serve to the human race? Does it give you any powers? Weapons?"

"No, unless you call hydration and some extra energy a power. But even then, it's mostly the flavour."

"Huh." She took a sip, mimicking what he'd done. At instant, the flavour filled her mouth. It was tangy and sweet and nothing like she'd tried ever before. Hell, she hadn't ever consumed anything like this before. She'd kept taste buds on her tongue to help her navigate and see whether places were toxic or not through taste of air, but that was virtually it.

"So… Watcha think?"

"It's sweet. Overwhelming." She gasped.

"Oh! I've got lots more! Lemme find you some with grape. That one is good, too!"

She watched the boy run. How odd, she smiled. Yes. This planet was very odd indeed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen- Is it True What They Say?**

Days had passed. Peridot was learning; learning about her new borders, rules and relationships. Steven had been useful in teaching her how to use the television, and she was now on a juice only diet. Things were looking up. Pearl had kept her distance from the newcomer, but was beginning to feel more at ease at having the prisoner around. Things were more smooth, less tense.

She asked a lot of questions. Some had to be refused, but most were intelligent and practically answered. She was a lot less bitter and snarky in this state of being presented with so much information. Pearl couldn't help but think that perhaps the reason for her previous attitude was her lack of new content. Indeed, she admired the intelligence of Peridot.

Steven had left for Connie's home earlier that morning. Things were going back to usual, it seemed, with no more mysterious visits by the boy to places he wasn't supposed to go. Pearl was about to start making preparations on his dinner when she was touched on the arm. She was too surprised to panic, instead simply pausing at the delicate motion.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you."

She faced Peridot, quirking a brow. The other hadn't been this bold before. "Can I help?"

"Uh… Erm…" She bit her lip. Pearl stared as it was chewed anxiously. "Where's Steven? I'm kind of… Alone without his company. He helps me understand this place. Easily."

She couldn't help but to give the other a gentle smile. "He's out for now. He'll be back in a few hours, alright. If you're bored, you could stay and help me."

Peridot gazed over her, drinking in the white gem. She was stuck for words. The other gems had merely ignored her now that the initial shock of her presence had worn thin. She reached out to touch the other again, holding her by the hand. Much to her surprise, Pearl didn't pull away. "Sorry." She apologised again. She was getting good at apologising. "I… I… Steven embraces me a lot and touching things lets me feel a lot less sensory dysphoria now that I'm not surrounded by my technology. I don't feel as… Connected to my space as I did before." She looked away.

Pearl's gentle chuckle made her feel oddly warm. "If you want to hold onto me, I don't mind. I'm just a little surprised, that's all. Feel free to do whatever, as long as it complies with the rules we have given you, alright?"

"Alright." Her voice was a mewl. She didn't know what was making her head so fuzzy. She was a tactically built gem. Her defining purpose was to make intelligent, calculated decisions and to apply them to her area of expertise. Why was she feeling so blurry? So blinded, but in her mind. She couldn't drag her eyes away from Pearl's pale orbs.

"Is something the matter?" She asked, puzzled by the other gem's behaviour. There was something so familiar about it, but Pearl didn't quite know what. Her hand went to Peridot's forehead, brushing over that stone again. "Heavens, you're burning up. Sit here, I'll find something to check your temperature with."

Gems could fall ill in their bodies, if they transformed the correct aspects to fall ill with. Peridot had based her anatomy off of a more humanoid form, or at least as far as she could develop with her prosthetics. She sighed, it was entirely plausible she was sick, what with the human germs littering this place, it was bound to happen.

Pearl managed to return with a small stick of glass with what Peridot assumed to be mercury on the inside. "Here." She said, pressing it into her hand. "Put it under your tongue."

"What? That's disgusting and invasive!" She replied, aghast. The only thing that went in there were juice box straws.

"Either that, or I will personally stick it up your rectum. Or force you to transform one and then do that." She replied, firmly. Pearl couldn't help but to chuckle at Peridot's jaw dropping, a deep, emerald hue on her cheeks. "Come on. Steven's dinner needs making and I haven't got all day." The thermometer was quickly within her mouth and soon inspected. "Hm. Well. You seem to be alright. I'll keep an eye on it, though. I wonder what that could have been, though."

"I appreciate your concern." She replied, standing up and treading over to watch Pearl continue to cook. It intrigued her, how the Earth gem's methods were ever so smooth, as if she were playing the knife she chopped with like an instrument. Pearl glanced over her shoulder, smug at the other's reaction.

"Wish to give it a try?"

"Uh," Peridot was once again at a loss for words. She hated this. It was annoying and baffling behaviour for her. She was supposed to be good at these sorts of quips. "Yes. I'd like to try using one of your primitive implements."

"Alright." Pearl handed her the knife and a cucumber she was chopping up for a salad. "It works like a dagger to slice through the flesh of the vegetable… Just like that, see? Good. Yes, excellent. Carry on, and try and get every segment you chop to be of a similar size."

Peridot used her disattachable fingers to her advantage. They allowed for far easier maneuvering than a conjoined hand to the body. She noticed the other gem watching over. Eyes curious. "Am I doing it wrong?"

"No, no. Don't you worry. I was just… Marvelling how far Homeworld's gotten with things like technology. If it wasn't so dangerous, I suppose I'd… No. Don't worry. Tell me, though, if you don't mind. Were you… Born without the limbs? They seem to be custom made for you."

She blinked at the question. Surprised at Pearl's interest. She felt that awful heat rising to her face. "We were a class of gem created shortly after the war, due to the Homeworld caste revolution. Since the new change meant more emphasis on gem types being born for various reasons, my kind were specifically bred and modified to produce rocks which only had emphasis on thought. This meant that when my kind of gem came out with an outward physical form, the most of it went to my brain."

"Ah, and so you were born limbless."

"Precisely." She said as Pearl passed a few more things for her to casually chop up. "But that wasn't very useful, as we're often at the head of scouting missions, such as this one. So, we were fixed with limb parts we could control with our advanced brain power. They work better than normal, more organic forms."

"I see." Pearl leaned over to inspect them. "So, you can make them do anything."

"In limit. If I were to retreat into my gem under some inexplicable reason, they would not retreat with me. And any damage is usually pretty hard to repair. They're organic, themselves. They have a network of nerves and fabricated muscle that needs servicing every once in a while, which is how I feel pain and can touch with them."

"That's incredible!" Pearl beamed. "I can't imagine how they came up with that!"

She rolled her eyes. These gems really were behind the times. "We've had these for the last several centuries. These are obviously one of the new models, but they were built for ship interaction and weaponisation. I can turn my hand into a simple arm cannon and fire my fingers as bullets."

She couldn't help but catch a glimpse of longing and pain in those baby blues that watched her so intently. "Oh, how I wish I could see the other marvels you at home have come up with."

Peridot looked away. "You wouldn't like it. It's… Changed in a way that you wouldn't approve of, most likely."

"Oh."

"Yes. I… It's different. But it's what I warn born into. We still speak of your exploits. Well, that of Rose Quartz and her army. But that's mostly through poetry and dance. Even those things are a rarity in the gem world nowadays. The last time I saw it was at one of the military celebrations, about seventy years ago."

"But it's still around!" Pearl's excitement shone through her expression. "I used to be a dancing based gem before joining Rose. Back before I learnt the ways of the sword, it was my squadron who was there to cheer on and light spirits in the gem world. Those sure were the days."

Peridot stood as she watched Pearl's slender frame, imagining her, adorned and young. Dancing like she was supposed to. She wondered how Pearl's body would have moved, the expressions she'd made to her audience. She had to look away.

She didn't know what was happening.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen- The Scalding Echoes**

"You know what the worst part of this is? I trusted you, Lapis. I shoved aside all thoughts that you'd betrayed us by not revealing Rose's disguise, and you did the most dishonourable thing you could."

"I was protecting him. You were protecting Homeworld. Surely you can see where we're the same."

"I was protecting our own kind! Homeworld needed to see this discovery." Jasper snarled, tugging at her chain. "You could have made something of yourself. Even a puny gem like you."

A harsh snort. "Oh, so now I am worthy for Homeworld? Because I have held you down? Jasper, don't make me laugh. You keep calling me pathetic. You've been abusing and messing with my head since we sank. You're the pathetic one."

Jasper dipped her head. "Did you ever think there's a reason why I am what I am? I'm a solider, despite all odds. I had to fight tooth and claw to where I am. Endured things you can't even imagine. I'm by no means the most cruel thing you'll meet out there, you little brat."

"Be quiet." She spat, wrapping her chains around her hands and giving a forceful yank. "It's too late to get any sympathy from me. Not after what you did to me. What you did to Steven."

She turned to face the gem in the blue dress. "I treated you fairly until your treason! You chose to make yourself a victim, you two faced, treacherous weakling! And as for that grim... Thing. I can't believe you side with Rose, even after what her allies did in the war."

Lapis moved forward in an attempt to strike her. "Stop it! Stop trying to justify yourself! You're toxic. You make me sick! You make me feel sick. You... you are sick!"

"Oh. Am I?" Jasper smiled cruelly. "How could you possibly deny me of my right to defend myself? I've had enough of your stupidity. I've pried into your mind long enough. Here. Let me show you something to change your tune."

Lapis gaped, trying to use her wings to slip away. Civility with Jasper was so hard. It made her more reasonable. Less easy to antagonise. The orange gem closed her eyes and sat down. Opening her mind as she relaxed. She forced the images into Lapis' vision. All of the sudden, Lapis could see through her inner vision as she tried to unsuccessfully grapple away.

Homeworld underground labs were scary. Full of agonised screams and the whirring of machines and devices. Jasper felt herself form, shapes drifting around her.

"Experiment 1206 is showing signs of molecular activity. Soon to be planted to the soil for further growth." Stated a cold voice. She felt herself be punctured. Jasper wanted to scream but had no lungs. She felt herself filled, drilled and torn. She had vague memories. No, hauntings of being something... someone else. It was as if she had been torn to pieces and stuffed together.

Everything was dark. As if she were being buried underground. Her mind made protests,but she was weak. Too weak.

She swore never to be weak again.

The images shifted and blurred until the haze grew less prominent. This appeared to be a later memory. Lapis gasped as she heard Jasper wailing. Crying. The dreamlike gem sounded young. Much too young. She was being slashed and torn at by other Gems in diamond clothing. "Strange." Remarked one. "It seems to still have consciousness."

"You don't think that it's... A successful one, do you?"

"Don't be stupid. This one is a lowly Jasper. There's no way it would have the strength to survive despite being a shard. Let's dispose of it."

A bright glow overtook her vision. Lapis tried to cringe away but couldn't escape the sight as the gems began to yell out. "It's forming! It's going to try and attack. Get the destabiliser."

"Wait... look at it. It... It doesn't just look like a limb. In the name of Yellow Diamond... Look. It's... It's worked!" Both of them looked at one another and then down. "Hello! Are you quite alright? You're... You work!"

The images stopped.

Lapis was thrown back, she shielded her eyes.

"Enjoy that?"

The blue gem opened her eyes, staring Jasper down. "You're... you're not... you shouldn't be alive. You..."

"Say it. Do you think I haven't heard it? Disgusting? A fragment? An abomination? Did you ever really think my gem was whole? Look at it! But I'm still strong. I'm still here because I fought. I fought my rivals. I killed to stay alive. I became a solider not in the cheating way you did, by just being born lucky in some sort of godawful lottery of genetics. I became what I am by my own merit and I will not let you trap me here any longer." She grinned, teeth showing. "You may have bested me once, but that was exploiting my goodwill. Not something I'll make the mistake of. I am what I am because I trusted Yellow Diamond and put my faith in the Homeworld which had let me live. I am her sword and her shield and that gives me pride and strength to live on! I do not need to be coddled by promises of disgusting fusion." She roughly dragged Lapis up, making her choke. "This was a mistake. I'm going to make sure Rose is dead. I will claim this planet for the gems who let me live and I will make sure that you never have the opportunity to back stab anyone ever again, Lapis Lazuli. Mark my words."

...

Pearl couldn't believe it. Every question she had about Homeworld development was being answered, on conditions it did not risk revealing their defences or compromise on Homeworld safety. Peridot was even able to show a few logs from her scouting adventures, and although they didn't show much, they remained a meaningful artefact for Pearl to gander over.

The white gem had become steadily less gentle with her coaxing, but Peridot didn't appear to mind it. On the contrary; she seemed to heavily enjoy her chats with Pearl, who had approached her the most compared to the other two. Steven was kind, and nice and understanding of her position, but he was too young to understand some of the politics she wished to speak of. They sat like wives at a knitting circle, trading bits and pieces of history and information.

It was indeed, the desire for gaining of information which connected and complimented the two so well.

"And at the centre of the capital, we have a grand utopia. We've rebuilt it after the defence of the third war of annihilation so it might be a lot different to what you remember."

Pearl crossed her legs. Peridot observed her delicate body and it's attentive language. It was so very slender, so fluid in every precise, calculated movement. Her form was entirely organic but yet, so practised and perfect. It was practically pornographic to the technical mindset of the green gem. Pearl finally removed herself from that distant gaze she'd developed. "I wish I could see it now."

"You know... You could. We have a rehabilitation program set up for gems who have lost their way." She gave a hopeful look to the other. Yes. She'd enjoy helping Pearl reintegrate to Homeworld civilisation. She could see a promising you commander of the other.

"Nonsense." She tittered, affectionately pushing at Peridot's shoulder. "I couldn't. They know who I am and what I stood for. The Diamond Authority would never let me."

Peridot frowned. Yes. That was true. "There could be a way for you to prove your loyalty to her and..." She trailed off as she noticed that fire come to Pearl's eyes.

"I could never! I have no loyalty to any of the Diamonds. Mine lies within the honourable name of Rose Quartz." She stood up, glaring a scared looking Peridot down. "I can't believe you'd even try to sway me."

Peridot felt the largest wave of anxiety to hit her. She'd messed this up completely. "No! That's not what I meant at all! I was just trying to say that if you didn't like this miserable planet, you could always come back home with me!"

Pearl stared her down. The green gem couldn't work out why she'd gotten so angry after having been so happy to hear about the Homeworld not that long ago. Pearl straightened her posture and looked away. "I need to have some time alone. I'm sorry."

She left the grief stricked gem alone. Peridot felt awful and helpless. This shouldn't be upsetting her at all, but... Here she was, with that sinking, drowning feeling deep in her insides. She tried to tear herself up but couldn't. Instead, she waited there. Clutching at a rug for sensory comfort.

"Heyo! Guys! I'm out!" She heard Amethyst walk in. The purple gem spotted her and rolled her eyes. "Oh. It's just you here."

"Look. Insult me any other time, alright. I'm not in a good state as of this moment." She gave a reply. Ugh. She hated having to explain any sort of shortcoming.

"Yeesh. What's the matter with you? You should be happy you're even allowed up here."

"I think I upset the Pearl gem. I... I don't wish to talk about it."

"That's not really all that difficult. But she seems to kinda like you." She blinked as the short newcomer sat by her. "What happened?"

Peridot drew away, shuffling uncomfortably. She felt suspicion at the sudden gentleness in that tone. "We were speaking and I upset her. She said she needed time alone."

"Oooooh, you screwed up, dorito." She gave a mean laugh. Peridot flinched. "Pearl holds grudges like crazy. You took the chance she was giving you and drove it down. I like that. You gotta live by your own drift sometimes like that, you know."

"No! I do not know! I don't want her to be angry at me. Where is she? Should I try apologising?"

"Do whatever." Amethyst shrugged. "She's probably stropping in her room."

Her room. That was within the temple, where she was forbidden to go. "Please escort me to her. I need to see her and tell her I didn't mean to make her angry!"

"Eh. I can't be bothered. She's just a flight atop of mine. You can go find her."

Well, that was permission enough. Peridot sprinted in the direction she assumed would lead her to Pearl's location.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen- Dancing with the Whirlwind**

Peridot felt herself trembling as she passed into the wide space. Her eyes soon opened wide. The room was massive, colossal, even. Gems in the Homeworld had dwellings far more technologically supported, but everything here appeared to reek of antiquated gemstone magic. She glowed luminescent, highlighted by the gentle streams of water at the mouth of the room. She couldn't reveal her position quite yet and gently hid underneath one of the large waterfalls, hating the feeling of being submerged.

She looked up in wonder at the ceiling. It seemed limitless, forever expanding upwards with swirls that looked like stars in the high planes. There were odd, ribbon like structures that gently drifted in the space. Peridot jumped up atop of one of the waterfalls that were cascading down. It was slick, but her fingers allowed her to grab onto the edge and to drag herself up.

She stopped moving when she saw Pearl as the top, on a wide floating disc-like structure. She was practising poses, elegantly turning her body in pirouettes. Was this what she did when she was sad? Work out her aggression and upset through dance. It was a stunning outlet.

Peridot shrank back a little as the white gem stopped. Had she been noticed in the forbidden room? Oh no oh no oh no. She drew her face down, hotter than ever. Oh, this was so wrong. She was spying on her. It was practically evil but she couldn't draw away. She glanced up. Pearl had dropped to her knee for a bow. Odd. Was this a new dance.

She jerked when the other dipped her head down, and produced a bright blue flare from her gem. Peridot realised that this was an older version of her type of hologram. The graininess made her eyes strain. She made a mental note to offer to upgrade that of the Crystal Gem's. Her eyes widened as the light turned into a hologram of a massive form.

It appeared to be a gem. A very powerful, tall and graceful being. She wore a thick dress, her hair in large, curly drifts came down to her waist. Peridot shook. She knew exactly what the being was supposed to be. She'd seen illustrations and descriptions of Rose Quartz in thousands of journals and paintings. Even songs about her spoke of her qualities, however, this drew her breath away. Her lips parted a little as she sucked in a breath, her cheeks feeling as if they didn't exist. Peridot was in complete awe.

Pearl's voice cut through the almost-silence.

"Rose. I… I wish to dance with you."

The hologram laughed lightly, her whole body moving jubilantly with the expression. It made Peridot's heart warm. "Really?" She saw Pearl's lips move, her voice a little lower. She was impersonating the other. This appeared to be a memory.

"We don't have to, I mean… But… I-I'd be honoured to, Rose. I really want to."

"Well, you don't have to keep dreaming any longer. Take my hand." The figure outstretched her large fingertips. Pearl took them, smiling as tears poured down from her eyes and trickled down her face. The hologram's hand drifted through Pearl's pixie cut hair, stroking through it. The other gem seemed to be too far into the scene to not realise that what she was talking to was not real.

Pearl imitated Quartz again. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"I'm sorry, I just never expected to hear you say yes."

"Oh, Pearl. My darling Pearl. My most faithful knight. Of all the things in the universe, I wouldn't dream of dancing with anyone more special than you."

She could see Pearl's knees shaking under her. As if she was forcing herself to stay up, just to keep the memory accurate in its recreation. "Then," Choked the other. "Then, let's do it."

The hologram pulled her close and Pearl complied, going forth. They took one another by the hand, and began moving in a gentle motion, each step calculated. Each step with feeling. Pearl's tunic sashayed as she moved, lost in her world. She made arcs with her body, the sheer passion in her face making Peridot flush harder and harder.

As she danced, Peridot felt an odd fire within her, burning at her loins. This was so wrong. This intimacy being so horribly invaded by her watching, but she wasn't able to stop watching. Her legs, although completely solid for the most part, felt like the jelly from the innards of her pods.

"I see you've been practising." The hologram said. There was something so suggestive in that of a deeper meaning that Peridot couldn't quite place.

Pearl gave a husky moan as she was dipped. "Mmh. I try. For you. Only for you."

The reply from the pallid gem made the space creature's body tense, a tingle of sparks run through her spine. Oh, how she wanted to hear her speak in that manner again. It felt primal. Sensual. Needy for something she couldn't quite recognise. Her stomach felt as if there were tiny creatures flapping around inside of it.

Her cheeks burned hot as she watched them and she came upon a horrifying realisation.

She wanted to be in Quartz's place. She wanted to be the one touching Pearl in this way. She'd never danced herself, as it had related too much to disgusting fusion. But the shameless manner in which the other managed her way wasn't disgusting at all. It was art. It was practised and passionate and it made her desire more.

It was beautiful.

Her hatred for Quartz was renewed. Increased by ten, no, twenty… No, infinity fold. Even stronger than when she read of how the commander had turned against gemkind. That thing was a traitor. She wanted to rip the dancer out of the hologram's arms.

She was literally green with her envy.

"Oh, Rose…" She breathed as they came to a finale. Standing there. Panting. "That was…"

"Wonderful." The Hologram replied in Pearl's voice.

They leant down, closer to one another. Pearl was practically teal from her flush. Her own lips so carefully parted. They were close. So very close.

The Rose Quartz hologram leant down and kissed her, deeply. Lovingly.

Peridot gave an audible, loud gasp. "N-no!"

The hologram broke away with an instant. Pearl looked down and met her eyes with Peridot's. Neither moved for a few good seconds. All was still, too still. Even the waterfalls seemed to be slower.

"I…" She began, trying to say something. Anything.

"What… What?" Pearl's voice was deathly. Cold. Piercing. Shattering.

"I can… I can explain." She was desperate. Looking around for an answer.

Pearl's shout, so angry, so upset, so flustered made her bodily fluids run chillingly cold.

 _"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"_

 **A/N: Comments are always adored. Thank you all so, so much for your generous and amazing support.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen – The Flood.**

Peridot felt too distraught to even struggle. Her whole being felt weak, empty. Pearl's words and look of absolute distress and panic had driven her down under. She had done that. It was her fault. Guilt wallowed at her throat, lodging there and refusing to let her defend herself.

"And she was just there! I don't know why since she won't say a thing, but I want her out!" She could hear Pearl shrieking. Angry. Upset.

Disappointed.

"We can't! She didn't know any better!" Steven was clinging onto her prosthetic leg. She could barely feel his hold. "Guys… Come on! I've gone into her room lots of times when she's told me to stay out!"

"This is different, Steven. We are taking her where she belongs. We will dismantle her and get her in a bubble and that is the end of it." Garnet said, her brow furrowed. "She is a danger."

"I hate to say I told you so, but, I told you guys." Amethyst gave a haphazard shrug and then jumped as Garnet took to her.

"You let her go there! You were in the vicinity to make her not enter and you allowed her to overstep her boundaries. You were no better."

Peridot looked at the oncoming warp pad. This was is it.

She was going to be bubbled.

She was going to live out the rest of her existence as a criminal in a terrible jail.

Peridot was more disappointed in herself for her sheer lack of caring within this situation. Nothing mattered. No, she deserved this. She had invaded Pearl's most dear moments. Something she obviously guarded. She couldn't get the face the dancing gem had made when she'd been artificially kissed out of her mind. Pearl looked so serene. So fulfilled. So… So intimate.

She had seen something she was never meant to. And it confused her.

What did it mean? Had Pearl really held this odd affection to her leader? No, 'affection' was not the true word for what she had witnessed. There was something more in those baby blue eyes. The way they yearned, the pain that was born for no real sensible reason. There was nothing that made sense, and yet it all made sense. It had been something that was an urge, like her own inane urge to conquer, to thrive. It had been a need.

A desire.

She swallowed as she was roughly dragged closer to her doom.

Why did she feel such hot, burning envy? Surely, she couldn't be feeling that… That-

"Guys! Guys, we need to go outside!" Steven had turned to face the window.

Pearl rolled her eyes. "Come off it, we're not going to fall for that."

The green gem felt a sensation of falling, then pain as her head hit the board of the floor. She heard the tall fusion yell out. "He's right. Everyone. Get ready. We need to secure whatever that is." She turned languidly, confused and discombobulated. What was the source of the sudden commotion? Garnet tipped her glasses so that her eyes bore down on the prisoner. "Don't even think about moving. We will deal with you later."

The Crystal Gems sprinted down to the beach. The water had changed colour, the sky filling with dank, dark clouds. Something was clearly afoot. Steven pushed his way to the front, hearing commotion behind him from scared beachgoers not too far away. His face aghast. "You guys don't think…"

He felt a hand at his shoulder. Pearl. "Steven. Please, you can't let yourself get hurt if it's…"

"If its Lapis, I'm staying right here." He replied, shrugging her off. "I don't care if I have to face Malachite. I need to help her."

"Steven, we appreciate your bravery, but this might not be the best time." Garnet shot back, earning a look of upset from the boy. "Fine. Stay back." The waves of the beach front were starting to get more and more aggressive. Slamming into the sand so that it spat out, far and high. As if something was straining, fighting to get out.

The gems drained in colour as a dark silhouette came from under the ocean. It drew, closer and closer.

Steven glanced back at the house, and then to the beach.

He had to face this. Unlike a dream, he couldn't escape. And he didn't want to. Not this time.

The form grew large. Thick, luminescent strands of hair tugged at the water's seams and ripped through it. The flock of hair was filthy, covered in oceanic life. This was it. Malachite's forehead rose. Still, in its huge, terrifying glory. Not one of them was able to move as her eyes broke to surface. Her bottom lids shut, Jasper's eyes squinting as she strained in frustration. Even Opal, made up of clashing personalities, was one being that recognised itself as such. Malachite was completely divided. Steven could see where she was splitting at the cracks, ripping at her own fabric. Her animalistic body heaved itself.

Malachite did not, however, speak. It didn't utter a single word. As it made its way to land, it was surrounded by a dim glow. The Crystal Gems only found themselves mobile when the fusion finally split. Both the gems hit the ground hard. Exhausted.

Lapis was unconscious. She was in a worse state than Steven remembered. Even more marks on her. Her clothes torn. The boy was stopped short of calling her name as her body vanished, and in her place, a teardrop of a gem lay. The waves lulling over it, as if a mother caressing her crying child. The orange gem remained still, too. She was soon surrounded by hostility, as the gems drew their weapons.

A chuckle.

A deep, low chuckle. "Looks like I won that one."

Garnet kicked her boot to Jasper's maw. The gem groaned in agony. "Be quiet. We have you surrounded."

"I'm still up for another round." Came a hoarse response. "I'll show you."

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" Peal hissed, pointing her spear. Ready to battle.

"Oh, sure I do." Jasper finally looked up. Steven flinched at the yellow glare. "The answer is never."

Steven whisked around when he heard his name called out. Connie was running towards them, her amateur sword at her side. "Steven! I was coming over and I saw the sky turning all weird. I'm here to help!"

"Oh, geeze. What's up with all these humans? You critters are breeding like vermin." Jasper forced herself to shove Garnet's leg away.

Hell broke loose.

Amethyst and Pearl attacked without hesitation, launching themselves upon the fallen gem. Jasper snarled, and threw them off. Garnet quickly recovered and intervened, slamming her fist into the side of the opposition's jaw.

The force slammed Jasper a few feet away, but she was quick to recover. Her nostrils flaring in deep, heated anger, she summoned her own helmet. "I can beat you, even when I'm this weak!" She curled into her ball like form, seaweed and filthy water spraying everywhere as she charged, and spin dashed directly into the fusion, knocking her into the sea.

"Garnet!" All three simultaneously yelled as she submerged. The impact had also driven Jasper a few feet in, but not far enough to cause her to be unseen. She turned and stared at Steven. The boy inhaled, chilled to the core.

She charged up and dashed again, only to be deflected by the two other gems. As she bounced back, panting, she stood up and withdrew a gem destabiliser from her pocket with a discreet flash. The gems hadn't noticed this, it seemed, and charged at her regardless. Safe to say, with a few dodges and pokes, the two were made short work of.

"That's Jasper… Isn't it, Steven?" Connie said in a hushed whisper.

"Yeah." He replied. He was too scared to do anything but hold her hand. His guardians lay on the ground, shaking from being struck by the tool. Unable to make coherent noises. "That's… That's her."

"Steven!"

All three turned to face an alarmed Greg walking to the beach, barely wearing his sandals. Jasper groaned in frustration. "How many of you are there? You're not seriously going to try and oppose me, are you?"

"You!" Connie stomped forward. "Steven told me what you did! Of course I'm going to fight you! How dare you hurt my friends?"

"Connie, no!" He gasped.

"Oh? And what are you?" Jasper gave an amused titter.

"Just an apprentice of Pearl. And Steven's friend." She stood a foot from her foe. "And you will have to get through me to get through to him."

A shrug. "Eh. I'd like to see what you've got. If you're an apprentice of that defect over there, you won't be anything to worry about."

"Connie, get back!"

She turned to him. "No." She then stepped forward. "My dad always told me that if a jerk like you approaches me, I have to do one thing and one thing only."

"And what's t-OH DEAR MOTHER OF THE DIAMOND TRIFECTO!" Jasper's taunt was stopped short as Connie literally kicked her foot inbetween her legs. Jasper heaved, falling over and gasping. Both the males on the beach cringed.

"Jeez louise. She got that thing right in its literal family jewels." Greg couldn't help but state as he gazed on. Jasper was still rolling about on the ground, muttering pained, panicked noises about the hurt at her 'tentacle'.

Steven raced over to the two other gems. "Guys, guys! You okay? Can you talk to me?"

"Steven!" He heard his father yell out, scared. "She's getting up again!"

Pearl grunted and shakily tried to move. He heard Jasper's voice from behind him. "That was a disgusting trick. I don't put it past you. I will tear all of you filthy gremlins apart, limb from aching limb."

"Not if I can help it!" Jasper had no time to react as a green leg smashed at the back of her head. There was a loud thud, a possible miniscule earthquake, as Jasper's body hit the ground. A destabiliser stuck to her neck.

She quivered for several good seconds before her eyes finally closed.

Peridot stood over her.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen- Lull in the Waves**

"So. What the hell are we meant to do with the giant cheeto puff when she wakes up? We're not going to be able to hold her down forever." Amethyst folded her arms. The group were sitting within the living room. After having recovered and then celebrated their beachside victory, Garnet had called them all for a meeting within the space to attempt to make sense of the situation.

The fusion nodded to Peridot, who was still in a state of rearing excitement. "Your weapon should hold her down, right?"

"For a while. This isn't actually my weapon at all, and it's starting to lose charge." She took it out and placed it gently on the table for the others to examine. "My purpose was to be a technologically based scout with a later learnt specification on knowing about Earth culture. I have no weapons of my own, even my projectile hand isn't able to face up to gems. The destabiliser is more or less a way for us to protect ourselves from rogue gems and is a military issue item. They need to be charged up in order to function, and now that I've lost the port on the ship, it should be dysfunctional soon."

Pearl sighed. "At least that's a comfort to know that Jasper won't be able to ground us without a physical struggle. I'd hate for her to do that again. Once was enough, but the second time really gets under your skin."

"To be fair, Jasper isn't that big a danger." Peridot said, earning baffled looks from the others. "Yes, she's headstrong and annoying to all hell, but she does everything for her loyalty to Her Diamond Authority. You gems should know how that feels. I was and am the same way, but now that it's become clear I will be seen as a traitor regardless of what I do, I may as well be civil."

"We appreciate that." Garnet gave a nod. "And for your help at the beach. That could have turned incredibly ugly."

"The one thing I don't understand is why… Jasper was hurt by Connie's assault." Pearl rubbed at her chin, awkwardly side eyeing the children. "Gems don't have… Uhm. Yeah. There shouldn't have been anything there."

"Oh, that I can explain." Peridot casually sat back, relaxing a little. "When we took you aboard as prisoner, we had to strip you in order to make sure you weren't carrying weapons."

"You did _what?"_ Pearl stopped, aghast.

"Be quiet, you. Earth's weird fascination with nudity has warped your thought of the body. You three seemed relatively normal, but Quartz over there-"

"YOU STRIPPED STEVEN?"

"It was a routine inspection."

"Oh my God I do not need to hear this!" Greg put his hands to his ears, loudly singing to block the Homeworld gem out.

"Jasper was fascinated with it and gave herself one. Says it made her feel powerful or whatever." She shrugged. "Considering her past as a shard experiment, she's got some weird power complex going on that I for the life of me cannot deal with."

"You… He's just a child! I can't believe you…" Pearl rubbed at her temples. "Okay. Okay, it was routine. You gems don't know about human inhibitions. Look, due to the processes involved in reproduction, certain areas of the body are seen socially perverse."

"I don't think I should be listening to this." Connie stated, her face flushed.

"I am really not comfortable with Steven going on any missions with you guys." Greg swallowed, looking away.

"Eh. I don't really care." The boy shrugged. "I've been naked before. I'm just glad we managed to beat Jasper."

"That's the thing." Garnet stood up, deep in thought. "We didn't beat her. Not with our strength, anyway. I managed to kick her down before, but even that was aided with gem technology from the Homeworld."

"Let me deal with Jasper." Peridot said, confident. "I want to show you all that I can be of use. I refuse to fight against Homeworld, but I should be able to subdue her enough for your benefit." Her gaze drooped over Pearl. "I don't want you to find me… Something to be that afraid of."

"We're not. We're scared of what you stand for. Where you come from. You are powerless without the destabiliser and have proven yourself to us as an… Ally for getting Jasper down." Garnet focused on her. "You may attempt to further prove yourself by helping us deal with Jasper. Thank you for your help."

"Those chains aren't going to hold her down forever." Pearl sighed. "What are we supposed to do? We can't have her running amok in the temple."

"That's simple." Peridot gave a smirk. "You do exactly what you did with me."

"Oh?"

"You kill her with kindness."

…

The day was growing old. The sun had set and things appeared to be on their way to recovering from the trauma of earlier hours.

Steven padded upstairs to his room, his face jolly. Yes. Things were looking up.

His gaze fell upon the Azure gem at his bedside. He smile dropping a little.

Lapis. She'd been allowed to stay at Steven's side, as the Crystal Gems had determined she would be the least likely to lash out at him and there was no way to chain her while she was within her gem. Bubbling her was out of the question, as it would upset the child too much and stop any recovery of the gem.

His fingers gently brushed over its smooth surface.

He just wanted her to be alright. That's all.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen- Let it Burn**

"Alright, Peridorito. Your time to shine. Or kinda glow. Whatever you wanna do." Amethyst urged her. The green gem swallowed. She'd heard Jasper's distant shrieks and indignant noises for days now. No one had the guts to approach the gem. Not even Garnet.

"I'm not sure I can do this. She's going to be mad with me."

"When isn't she mad? Come on. Make a move." She was pushed closer to the room. "Do this for yourself. She's not gonna hurt you."

Peridot closed her eyes and slowly moved forth into the temple. The prison holding room was vast, bigger than she remembered it. Perhaps it had accommodated to Jasper's size. She swallowed as she approached her former escort. The gem was heavily detained, even more chained up than she had been. Welts had formed at her wrists and ankles, evidence of a fierce and desperate struggle. Her head sagged, her messy hair over her eyes.

"Jasper." Peridot breathed, opening her hand towards the other. As if grasping her only hope for salvation in the eyes of Yellow Diamond.

"You're here!" Jasper glanced up, eyes wide. Her tone relieved. Grateful. Jasper was hardly ever grateful. "Come on, let's get out of here quickly. I'm done with being chained up." Peridot hesitated. Walking forward, slowly. Unease rested in her belly. "Peridot?" Came the low question.

She couldn't meet Jasper's eyes. "I can't. I'm their prisoner, too."

"What? Why are you allowed to walk free? Surely you'd be able to hurt them? Your destabiliser! Wait…" Her face turned red as anger burned at her cheeks. "You! You did this! I had them in my grasp and you used our own technology against me!"

"Jasper. I had to. I'm trying to earn their trust."

"I can't believe this. Why am I doomed to meet nothing but traitors in my path?" She spat, wrestling her chains, making them rock. Peridot shrank, scared. She remembered being at the forefront of Jasper's anger before. "Get out of my sight. I don't want to see your face. I don't want to see any of you pitiful, disgusting fools."

"Please. Listen. I know you don't want to, but… These gems are different to Homeworld. They're merciful. They will not try to excecute you like they would at home."

"Hah! I'd rather be excecuted than grovel on my knees and plead for forgiveness. Is that what you did, Peridot? Beg? You useless tech. You were always meant for serving like that feeble Pearl."

"You be quiet about her!" She snapped, angry. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"Oh, has she reprogrammed you to be obedient to her. Knowing you, you'd go through it willingly."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She cursed at the other, face emerald.

"Ah." Jasper nodded in understanding. "It's before your time, I guess. These gems were going to be either destroyed or reprogrammed on Earth, if their trial had gone well. The system comes from before your development. That Pearl is defective."

"She is not a defect! She's… She…"

"She was born to be of complete servitude to Yellow Diamond. Just like your class of gem were. All the new types after the caste revolution began to serve this purpose. The free thinkers were destroyed completely unless they'd showed complete obedience during the war. Such as myself."

"I choose whatever I want!" Peridot snapped. "I have… I can think for myself."

"You can't. You physically cannot. Your mind was programmed in order to naturally obey. You even take pleasure in obedience, you weak little thing. You were born to be commanded. To be a slave. She was, too. But, she must have short circuited somewhere, somehow. Must've been Quartz's influence. That bitch."

Peridot tilted her head. "You're calling her a female Earth dog?"

"Oh. Is that what a bitch is? That's a let down."

"Must be slang. Where did you pick it up from?"

"Rose Quartz."

"You must mean Steven." She sighed, making her way closer. "Jasper. You need to realise that he's not Quartz. He's different. He's just a juvenile Earth sentient with limited scope of the universe and its story. We can teach him. We could get him to side with Homeworld."

"What? For that thing to then stab Her Diamond Authority in the back again? You must be out of your mind!" Jasper bore her teeth.

"He wouldn't. I promise. He's… He's something else. This whole planet is. You need to experience it for yourself, Jasper. And you will. I promise that if you let them show you mercy, they will. They don't want any more pain or war. They just… Sought to protect themselves."

"They are sinners. Traitors. But I guess you wouldn't see that as wrong, anymore. You were my comrade, Peridot. You were trustworthy. You'd been trained perfectly. How could you deceive me like this? How could you deceive Homeworld?"

"The second I realised that Homeworld's cruelty wasn't the only thing in the universe. This planet will not punish you for your mistakes or crush you for your imperfections. Nothing is perfect, especially you, Jasper. I became an unwilling traitor when these gems destroyed the cluster project. I cannot go back, not because I turned my back on Homeworld, but because it turned its back on me."

"And what about me? I'm still welcome there! I'm still an ally to Diamond."

"Oh, please. They'd smash you if they knew you'd been thwarted by the Crystal Gems and sunk down by someone as antiquated as Lapis. You're going to be seen as weak. You know they're always going to look down on you, you're just one of their experiments."

"Shut up!" She screamed, her face wild in contorted anger and anguish. "Shut _up!_ "

"What?" She sniffed. "You can dish out apparent truths, but take none in? Give me a break. You're a hypocrite. A liar. You said nothing but words of disgust for the filth that fusion is, and then you go and fuse yourself to prove a point. At least I'm a proper gem. You might be whatever rank you are, but in the social hierarchy, no matter what the current caste is, I will always be higher than you."

"I told you to shut up!"

"You hurt a human without any defences, knowing he wouldn't be a challenge to fight."

"I was stabilising Rose Quartz."

"You were damaging a child."

"I was doing what was _right!"_

"You were winning a race." She said, glaring down at the other. "Because you knew it was a race you would always win. You have no strength, Jasper. All of it comes not from in you, but through technological cheats and the folly of others."

"Stop this. You're out of control. You're meant to be obeying!"

"Oh, am I?" She hissed. "Well. This doesn't look like obedience, does it?"

"No. Something's gone wrong with you, Peridot. They must have messed with your head. Made you fluke from your purpose. Just like that Pearl. I don't know what it is, but something about this planet seems to be messing with gems on it. It's sick. This whole place is dirty."

"That's what I thought, too." She leaned down. Her voice softening. "But I promise, it's not as bad as it seems. I know you want to fight them, but please. You're not going to get anywhere if you don't cooperate. Look at me. I can travel now. I have no chains. I can go outside if I have an escort and explore with an arsenal of information at my fingertips. If you don't want to, at least pretend. I need you out here with me. I want you around. I'm lost, too. This isn't my home. You're the only thing here that reminds me of that."

Jasper's head bowed again. "Would I be allowed to see Lapis?"

This puzzled her. "I suppose so. When she recovers. I'm not sure if she'll want to see you. I thought you disliked her."

"I do."

"Then why do you wish to see her?"

"I dunno."

Oh. This was getting nowhere. "Well, regardless, cooperating will give you a bigger chance of seeing both her, and the outside world than now. Literally, the chances you have now are a big, fat zero. I'd be upset if my prospects were that low."

"I'll… I need to think."

Peridot finally smiled. Moving closer. Wanting to comfort her ex escort. "Jasper. Tha-"

"Please don't look at me."

She paused. The second she had come too close, Jasper's voice had become raspy. Young. She blinked as the other hid behind her hair. "Jasper? What's the matter?"

"Please, stay away."

She used a digit to draw her finger apart. Come to think of it, her face had been mostly covered by her hair ever since she'd come to see her. Jasper began to thrash. Something was amiss. "What's going on with you?"

"I said, don't look at me!"

She drew the hair away completely. Jasper had thick rings under her eyes. Her face exhausted. She looked like a wreck. But that wasn't what caused Peridot to shrink back, making a terrified squeal tumble out of her insides.

Jasper was oozing with viscous, teal-like liquid from her mouth. She looked sick. The stuff looked like blood, but it made her cringe forward, gasping. She spat some of it out, it appeared as if it had pooled out.

"I told you not to look."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty- Unwilling Mercy**

It ached it Jasper's insides, causing her to cough and hack. It was as if something burned in her belly with a heat too hot to bear. Clawing at her innards. Destroying her from the inside. It was hell, it was torture of the most horrible kind.

It was Malachite.

She heard that wretched warp pad activate in the close space between her and freedom. She meekly tugged at her chains. In any other circumstance, she'd be able to get out, but… No. Not like this. She heard the traitor's voice mewl out. "And she was… I don't know what it was, but she isn't okay! You… You need to help."

She heard the boy's voice and narrowed her eyes. "I'll try. The others don't want me here. It's lucky they're out on a mission."

"Please. Just… Don't let her be destroyed. I can't have her gone."

She almost laughed at Peridot's sentimentality. How soppy the other had gotten. She'd resist whatever reprogramming these fools would try. Maybe she'd even pretend to go along with it and then escape. Yes. That was a good plan. Peridot and the Quartz child came into view. Steven looked nervous, hurt. She gave a chuckle, more liquid spilling out. Good. That at least made her feel powerful.

"Jasper." He called out. "What's going on? Peridot told me you're hurt."

She didn't reply. The sight of the boy still disgusted her.

"Please! I just wanna help you! All of you. You don't deserve to be in pain."

This was all manipulative tactics. Perhaps that's how they'd brainwashed Peridot. She spat out the vile substance building up on her mouth. "See? That's what I was talking about."

She heard a gasp from the boy. "Is she bleeding?"

"I don't know! She shouldn't be! I have no idea what's going on!"

"Jasper! Please. You've gotta talk to us! I want to do whatever I can to help you."

She grunted. "Leave me." She glared up. "I don't want your pity."

"It isn't pity!" Steven came closer, anxiously tugging at the bottoms of his red shirt. "I can help you, just like I helped Peridot."

"You broke her. I don't wish to become your mindless servant."

"I fixed her up. That's all. I promise."

Her mind drifted back to the memories she'd stolen from Lapis. The blue gem had been healed by the boy. That much she knew. She could still feel the tingles of gratitude the other had owned in her system. It disgusted her. "Leave me be. If I recover, I don't want it to be by the hands of you."

Steven sat down, cross legged, a few feet away from the orange prisoner. He looked at her intently. A juvenile gleam in his eyes. "Peridot told me some stuff about your home."

She felt a prick of anger. She gave Peridot a glare which caused the Homeworld gem to flinch. "You did _what?_ You really are a pathetic traitor!"

"No! It's not like that. She just told me some stories. Please. I wanna hear you out." He spoke, gently. "I get that your whole… Thing is different. I know you're hurting, still from what my mom did. I want to hear your side of the story. Maybe you'll be hurting less and maybe when you hear how I feel, you won't be so mad at me anymore. You don't know much about me, so your mind probably has made up things that just aren't true to fill in the gaps. It's okay. I do it too. It's just how we are sometimes."

She glared at him. Was this some form of reverse psychological interrogation? Pah. She just wanted to be left alone. "What do you want to know?"

"Why are you angry with me? Why do you hate me?"

"You should know that, Rose!" She spat at the boy. He didn't flinch.

"No. I don't know. And I told you already. I'm not her."

"Fine. I'm angry with the fact that you turned your back on the Diamond Authority. You were amazing, a sight to behold. One of the Gem world's biggest treasures. And you threw it back in the face of your own kind. Why? Because you had some weird liking to this miserable place. How could you do that?"

"I don't know much about who the Diamonds are." He said, tense. Sad. "I'm sorry you feel that it was my fault for that. What I do know is that my mom loved this planet, just like you love the Homeworld. Imagine that kind of love for this place. I know it's hard, because you don't like it here, but she saw something in it that made her heart beat. It was something she needed to protect and not ruin."

"And was the massacre of gems involved in the war necessary? Was seeing my comrades fall to their deaths, be crushed in the worst ways possible needed?"

"No." He said. "It wasn't. I'm sorry it happened. But the war was before me. I wasn't even a thought back then. I didn't even know all that much about why it happened until pretty recently. I know you won't forgive my mom for it, and that's okay. But I promise that she suffered because of it."

Peridot couldn't believe it. The boy was actually succeeding with this conversation.

"Fine. You're not responsible for the war. But Rose Quartz is. And she fled away and became… You! You're disgusting. What you represent is a disgrace. How could she do this? Did she have no pride at all?"

Steven wiped at his eyes. "I don't think I'm disgusting at all. My mom didn't give herself up to run away. I'm pretty sure she didn't want to leave at all, but she had to if she wanted to have me. Her friends were really hurt by her going away."

Jasper gave a bark. "You're just a tactic for her to not face the consequences of what she did. That's so… Weak."

"No. That's not what happened at all. I promise. I know where you might have that idea from, I mean, you don't know what happened. It's probably going to be hard to understand. My mom fell in love with a human."

There was a silence.

Peridot swallowed. How would Jasper understand this fact? She herself still had difficulty processing through it.

"How?" There was no cries of protest or objection. Nothing to accuse Steven of lying.

"I don't know. She saw something in him that she didn't see in anyone else. She wanted to be with him. I don't know how you think about love, so it's kinda hard to explain. But somewhere, somehow, she just began to feel a connection to my dad. She liked what he was, a lot. And she never wanted to let him go."

"But he was just a human." She said, her voice shaking. "Rose Quartz was a great gem commander. She was powerful and intense in her abilities. Humans don't even have a speck of the power she did."

"I know that we don't. People aren't gems. But she didn't care. She just wanted him as he was. Not because he was some kind of thing but because he was what he was, I guess. And she also learnt to love what people are. I guess she didn't need them to be powerful, or anything special. She just saw them as something… Extraordinary."

"And what are you, then?" She asked. Her tone was milder. Less hateful.

"I'm what she gave up. I guess you could say that I'm a fusion of her and dad, but I'm really not. I'm just me. I'm not my mom, even though she became half of what I am. She's just not around anymore because of that."

"But why would she just… Leave?"

"Because she loved him enough to want to give up everything she was."

"So… She's gone for good?" There was sorrow in her voice. Disbelief, but again, no accusation of falsehood.

"I think so. I've never even met her. I've seen what she looks like and heard of what she said, but… Really, I don't know that much. I'm sure if you asked the other gems, they'd tell you all about her. All I know is that I'm her kid. And that's all I am. Just a half gem kid called Steven." He moved a little closer. She flinched, but didn't draw back. "And I am sorry for the fact that you're hurt. I'm sorry you hate this planet. But I love it, and it's my home. I can't let Homeworld try and rip it apart again."

"We need this place." She replied, softly. "We need it because we're breaking at the seams, too."

"But we don't deserve to be broken just because of that. We have our own lives, too. We can't give that up for Homeworld. Just like you guys, we have value. Even if we're not all powerful and scary and built for fighting."

"I was just doing what I thought was right." She said, looking away.

"And we were, too." Steven was inches away from her. "We just have a different perspective on things, and that's okay, too. Everyone does. That's kind of a thing about this planet. No matter what you do, no matter how bad or nice it is, there's always going to be somewhere out there who supports you and someone out there who doesn't like it. And that's just the way things are."

"There's no obedience to one major force?" How strange.

"No. Not, really. Well… I don't know. That's a hard question, and I don't know everything. But as far as I know, I do things because Steven wants them to. Not because I'm doing it to serve… Mayor Dewey or something."

"I see."

Steven brushed her hair out of her eyes, looking at her face. She didn't struggle much at his touch. "I know you hate me. But I can heal you if you're broken. Even if it won't do much. A little helps, sometimes."

She looked at Peridot, who gave an approving nod. Her brows came closer together and she sighed.

"Do as you wish. Steven."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One- It's Time to Explore**

Peridot sat on the couch. Holding one of the human squares of leaved information. Her fingers traced the pages, the lettering odd. Her vision was suddenly broken from the book as Steven replaced the text.

"Morning, Peridot!" He beamed as she was so shocked she threw the book down.

"Don't sneak up on me!" She bit her lip. "Are you done with your nightly ritual of hallucinating?"

"Yeah, I'm awake now! I put my alarm on to wake up extra early. I wanna take you outside today! Come on!"

She looked around. "Outside?"

"Yeah! I figured you've been stuck around in here for too long and the weatherman said the forecast was meant to be all sunny! I'll show you all over Beach City, and you can meet more of my friends and we'll have lots of fun! How does that sound?"

"Hm. Intriguing." She gave a nod and stood up as he gave a cheer and raced to throw his shoes on. "Are you sure you're an adequate escort for me?"

"The gems don't mind. You're their friend now!"

She stopped short of going out of the door. The furthest she'd gotten in the past couple of weeks was the patio to let the big lion inside of the building aside with the mishap with Jasper, but even then, that had only been for a few moments. A friend to the crystal gems? Really? Steven was exaggerating. She sighed. Sometimes she wished that Earth culture spoke with a little more sincerity. It was hard to get a grip on their superfluous idiosyncrasies.

She stopped again when sunlight hit her face. Their sun was closer than that of the Homeworld, and she could feel the difference. She basked in its warmth, letting it soak to her core. It ignited her system with kind passion and allowed her lips to curve into a content smile.

"We get lots of people here around this time of year. But that's okay. I think you'll get to like them once you see how nice everyone is." She turned her smile to him, letting the boy grab her arm and gently lead her forward. He continued as they descended. "This is just the beach. You saw it already, but sometimes we like to go down here and play games. Swimming is nice, too."

"I could imagine so."

"Yeah! And just down there is where my dad lives. He has a carwash where he cleans things but he also cleans other stuff like boats sometimes. And over there is the broadwalk. You can see it from here. That's a fun place to go to and it's pretty close to the arcade. But we'll step into the big donut first, alright?"

"As you wish." She nodded as they paced down. She received a few odd looks from pedestrians, causing her stomach to turn with unease, but Steven's jubilant whistling and intermittent explainations calmed her nerves a fair amount.

"I like donuts a lot. Not sure if you'll be really into em, but you could always try."

"I think I'll pass on solid food." She'd had some back home. It wasn't a good experience. Juices were still consumed, however.

"Oh! You can have the coffee that comes with the donut combo, then! I don't like it that much, but you could try it out. It's all bitter and mature, just like you!"

"I will take that as a compliment." She side eyed him as they neared the store. "Am I to wait outside?"

"Come on in! I'm sure Lars and Sadie won't really mind! I've brought the others in a lot before!" He then whispered. "I think my friend Lars might have a crush on the Crystal Gems."

"Huh." She shrugged. "Does this… Lars wish to damage the gems by means of machinery or physical strength?"

"What?" He blinked, and then laughed out loud. "No, silly! Peridot, a crush doesn't mean you wanna actually really hurt them. It's kinda like this feeling you get. It's really weird."

"Enlighten me, please." She said, crossing her arms. She did not like being unaware of terminology.

"Well… Uh…" They walked into the shop. "Sadie! I need you to explain what a crush feels like."

The blonde had been sipping at a coffee that was now spat all over Lars. The teen wailed and raced into the back, yelling curses. "Oh, hey. Steven. Sorry you had to see that. I just wasn't expecting that kinda question today." She rubbed at her neck, face red. "A crush? Why do you wanna know that? Who's your friend?"

"This is Peridot. She's… Out of this world. She needs to know what a crush feels like."

"Hi." She gave a palm-less wave.

"Sounds rad. Hey there." Sadie gave a shrug, returning the wave. "Well, uh, it's like a thing you get for another person, usually. You get all hot and bothered around them and you just wanna confess everything to them, but you can't." Her eyes shot to the back room. "And you sometimes get a little jealous when they hang out with other people because you want them all to yourself, but you still just want them to be happy."

"Oh." Peridot nodded, processing the new information. "That's… A lot like me and… Uhm. Never mind."

"We didn't just come here for a chat," Steven clicked his fingers. "One donut combo with coffee, please."

"I see we're back to serious Steven." Sadie chuckled as she fiddled with the register.

"Oh, the coffee isn't for me. But serious Steven is always on the ball." He returned the grin and grabbed the snacks. He gave the paper cup of coffee to Peridot. "Here you go! That's hot, so be careful."

"Oh. Thankyou." She nodded, and looked over at the two humans before pressing her lips to the plastic top. She tipped it slightly, letting the aroma and hot drink seep into her mouth. It was incredibly rich, somewhat bitter and silky.

"I can give you milk or sugar if you don't like it black." Sadie offered, twirling sugar packets inbetween fingers.

Peridot took another sip. "No, this will do." She said, downing the whole thing. "This is rather incredible. Thank you."

"No problem. Anytime."

"See you around, Sadie! Thanks!" Steven grabbed Peridot's hand and led her again. The Homeworld gem felt oddly more alert and rearing to go. "I'm glad you liked that! Coffee's a weird thing that adults seem to really like, so I guess you're an adult now."

"But I was just made a few centuries ago."

"Adult Peridot! You're my mom for the day, alright?"

"Uh." It felt awkward to say no to his pleading eyes. "Sure. I'll be your human construct of a parental figure. Just for today, though."

"Yay! Space mom!" He grinned, taking a hold of her in a quick embrace and then leading the gem towards the broadwalk. "Oh! That's the fairground. Lots'a cool stuff there. Except the teacups. Even if they got rebuilt, we're not going on the teacup ride.

"I… Uh." She had very little idea of what he was talking about as he tugged her around. She tensed at every time a car passed her by. Uncomfortable with them since her collision. Still, it was good to have cool sea air whisk against her face. Steven's happy attitude was infectious, and she soon listened intently to his childish humour and observations. Very little of them made actual sense, but her two weeks in the custody of the Crystal gems had allowed her to observe that this kind of humour was exceedingly common.

Much of their jestering was founded on lies and suffering, which was a sad fact, but they took so much pleasure in it, she'd quickly stopped even trying to point it out. Truly, there was something quite remarkable about people in general. They had even built large contraptions to ride, simply for their own amusement.

They led lives that were simple. Yes, they had jobs, but nothing to truly expand their reach of the galaxy. Nothing beyond this little rock of a planet. And to be honest, Peridot was beginning to see a little honour in this. There was little they put their noses into, and that was alright with them. Many of them seemed to not even know much of the gems at all. Odd, considering the war had impacted so many of them, but they were an ignorant species.

Yes. For humans, ignorance truly was bliss. And that left them innocent.

Granted, there was their destruction of ecosystems and all, but that appeared to be out of ignorance, too, rather than a way in which they were manipulating their landscape to further be a dominant species. Odd.

They'd made it to the broadwalk. Peridot still holding Steven's hand. As he was midway through explaining a contraption upon the pier, a large scream shot out. She could feel the ground quaking below her feet, like a massive force was clawing its way to the surface. Rubble fell towards them, but in a flash of pink light, she found herself unscathed. She gripped Steven harder. Protectively.

"What's happening?" She yelled out, panicked.

"Over there!" He replied, moving the bubble along. She didn't notice at first and was wheeled along by the force. "It's another monster."

She turned to face it. A large creature had come out of the water, seething green from its teeth. A corrupted gem. She had read about them but never come face to face with one. She was paralysed head to toe. Unable to move or properly function at the sight. Jaw slack.

"Come on! We have to help fight it!"

She couldn't tell if Steven was incredibly brave or downright insane. One thing was true, however, the boy currently proved to have far more courage than she had ever displayed. She was unable to properly respond, body still in shock as he wheeled them towards the howling creature.

She wanted to scream.

 **A/N: Happy Steven Bomb the third, everyone!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty two- Dear Yellow Diamond, We All Go to Hell.**

"Steven, stay back!" Pearl yelled as she and the other crystal gems darted forth, weapons at the ready. Peridot gaped as they all attacked it from various angles, ignoring its deafening snarls and growls. Any Homeworld gem she knew would at least be worried, jumping in with no pre planned strategy or new weapons.

But, no. These gems faced the beast like it was no big deal.

Garnet's fists swung onto its head, causing the bellowing beast to smack down, while Amethyst's whip grabbed a hold of it and tugged it by one of its six arms, causing the corrupt gem animal to smack into the beachside as it arced over her. Pearl dashed forth, her body dainty and yet so, so firm, launched itself up and hoisted that thin spear over her head. As she slammed it through the creature, piercing it, the impact caused shockwaves to show on the sand in thin ringlets.

The animal gave its last wail, screaming as if to cruse the crystal gems before finally disappearing into thin air. Leaving only a small stone in its place. Steven immediately ran forward, jumping off the pier and landing upon the sand with a thud before crouching to bubble it.

"Success!" He grinned as the others joined him.

"Well done, Crystal Gems. That was good work." Garnet gave a light smile at her own praises as she unsheathed her fists to a more normal size. "Shame about that damage, though."

"Oh, they'll rebuild it." Pearl flicked her wrist dismissively and looked around. "We're missing Peridot."

"Oh, right. I left her up there. I think she was scared by the thing."

"We shouldn't leave her alone. She still needs an escort." Garnet said with urgency in her tone as the four hoisted themselves up onto the broken pier. Human activity was beginning to return to the area, people looking for their belongings and friends while sadly onlooking the damage.

"There's our lime flavoured square." Amethyst pointed at the curled up gem who had taken refuge by a now busted cotton candy stall. "Oh, geeze. What's the matter with her?"

"Peridot! You okay? I didn't think you'd gotten hurt!" Steven raced to her, crouching down as he tried to see her. "Oh, no! Don't be scared! It's gone! We bubbled it and now it's back at the temple."

Peridot didn't move, her form still trembling as she protectively pushed Steven's hold away. "Oh, dear." Pearl bent down on one knee. "This isn't good. Peridot. Can you hear us? Garnet, do you think she's…?"

"Looks like it."

Steven whipped his head back. "What's the matter with her? Why isn't she talking?"

"She's in a state of shock. It happens when we're scared, Steven." Pearl gently spoke as she moved closer to the other gem, slowly bringing her hand forth. "Humans get it too, sometimes. Come on, there's nothing to be scared of anymore. Peridot, I promise you're safe."

"Is she gonna be okay?" The boy's lip trembled.

"Yes. She will be just fine. Steven, why don't you head back home with the others? I'll get Peridot home. She seems to be at most ease with me."

"Agreed." Garnet gave a nod, hoisting Steven up and placing him upon her head. "We will continue this fun inside the home. Pearl can deal with these things better than we can. Peridot will be in good hands."

"Awh, okay!" Steven gave a happy nod at the reaffirmation and held onto the gem's form by wrapping his legs around the backs of her shoulders. "You get better soon, Peridot! I've got loads of other cool stuff to show you!"

"You sure you're gonna be okay with dealing with the emotional wreck?" Amethyst punched the white gem's shoulder lightly.

"We'll be just fine. Keep Steven distracted so that he doesn't get too worried, alright?"

"Sure thing, P. See 'ya at home, okay?" She gave a thumbs up and followed after the other two, her thick hair fluttering in the sea breeze. Pearl turned back to the other, noticing that Peridot had at least stopped trembling.

"You can retreat to your gem if you need to. I promise we won't bubble you." She whispered, noticing some onlookers had began to watch the two. She gently moved her hand to stroke the green arm, happy to see that she wasn't pushed away. "Come. I'm sure you've seen scarier things on your travels."

"I didn't know they'd be that big." Peridot's voice was broken, her eyes squeezed shut.

"You never saw one up close?"

"W-We don't get corrupt gems at all in the Homeworld. We crush them if we see the signs. Public execution of any signs of illness to show the others what will happen."

Pearl let out a shallow gasp and wrapped herself around the other. "I promise we will not crush you. No matter how evil you get. Well," She allowed a light chuckle to escape her. "I hope you won't turn evil, but I swear that the worst we can do is bubble and take prisoners, and even then, that hurts us, you know."

"There's more?"

"Many." She sighed, bringing her form around to sit beside the other, slouching against the wall and holding Peridot's fingers. The green digits curled around hers. "But we protect the people of this world against gems. Even corrupted ones."

"Y-You just face them?"

"Well, centuries of practise make it pretty easy to see that once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. I mean, some of them are a little stronger than others, but we're still around."

"I'm so useless. I couldn't face it when that kid could."

"Steven's seen a lot for his age. He's helped us on missions. He was scared when he first had to face one, too. And he gets scared of getting hurt now. We all do."

"But I've always just ran away. You all run towards danger."

"That's because we've always had the duty to do that." She squeezed her palm a little harder, comfortingly. "You were born to be a scout. A technological mastermind. We're soliders, like your… Escort. Or, at least at one point it's what we were forced to become. We've always had the displeasure to fight, but with that we've learnt how to make it our pleasure. You know I was created to dance. I made my dancing something that would protect someone I loved."

"Quartz?"

Pearl's grip tightened.

"Yes. Rose Quartz."

They stayed silent for a moment. The green gem could practically feel her brain churning as it processed through Pearl's words.

"Pearl?"

"Yes?"

"About the commander." Peridot's mouth was dry. She looked away, summoning courage. "Did you… Have a crush on her?"

Pearl's jaw dropped. She did a double take. " _WHAT?_ Haha! Where did you… Uhm. Erm. Where did you get that idea from?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to… I mean, I just learnt what this weird human notion was today. I don't quite know how to feel about it. I mean, it is somewhat how we feel rarely, right? But it's a contruct evolved by the human population in order to further their species as they reproduce. But then I thought about how you Crystal Clo-… Crystal Gems have intergrated to human society and how you're all okay with fusion and expressing your affections, and how I saw…"

"How you saw me with that projection of Rose." She looked away. Flushing. Eyes downcast. Ashamed. "That was a private moment."

"I know. I'm sorry I witnessed it."

"No, no. It's nothing I'm remotely proud of. I… There are things I sometimes do and say which I cannot explain. Maybe it's because I've become, well, a 'defect', as Jasper mentioned when she saw me."

"You're… You're fine, Pearl."

"I'm not." She closed her eyes. Leaning harder against the bricks. "I'm really not. I know what the purpose of my gems is back in the Homeworld. Oh, that life of mine seems like it was so, so long ago. I can't remember the moment I broke from my initial function."

"To obey?" She felt the other gem jerk at the word. Peridot looked at her, and then looked back down.

"Yes, to obey. But… Something changed when I met Rose. I felt liberated. She made me feel different about myself. I was no longer a pawn. I wasn't a tool. I was her ally. I mean, I could never bring myself to be her equal, no matter how much she insisted. I simply wasn't as high in worth as she was and I never will be, but… She made me feel different about myself. I was suddenly not _a_ Pearl, but _the_ Pearl, do you understand?"

"No… Yes… I don't know."

"Neither do I." She sighed. "That dance. It meant so much. Fusion was not something I often did, and being Rainbow Quartz made me feel whole. As if I was concrete, and every gap and imperfection within me had been filled. I felt her love, her being within me and I could feel the comfort that only she could provide. When she kissed me, I… I couldn't breathe. The world turned into technicolour. I felt real, and infinite, and yet, I felt as if I was dreaming and in a place which I truly could call home. Her embrace, her touch… It was everything. I became everything."

Peridot searched her face, wanting to brush every crevasse, but couldn't. She couldn't. "Is that what a crush is?"

Pearl sighed. "To reach for the stars and to never touch their beauty. To never join them, no matter how hard your heart yearns. It's painful and vulnerable. It brings you to your lowest. To your knees. That's what a crush is."

She looked at Pearl again.

Yes. That's what a crush was.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three – Coddling the Infection**

"We need to talk, Peridot."

Her daydreaming was snapped as she faced Garnet. Days had passed. Things still remained volatile. Well, with Jasper, anyway. She had barely spoken to the prisoner, allowing the warrior some breathing space. Whenever she tried to strike up a conversation with her, she simply said that she needed 'time to think' and didn't wish to be interrupted. Considering that this was most likely the low point of the orange gem's existence, Peridot had left her wordlessly in the chamber. It wasn't as if the other was wrestling against her chains again.

Pearl. She was thinking about Pearl. Peridot's thoughts had been assimilated by thoughts of that Crystal Gem. Whenever she tried to push through something back to normality, some kind of familiar emotion she'd felt at Homeworld, Pearl would dance in her mind. Those nimble limbs, those perfectly round, innocent eyes.

The pretty smile, that perfect neck that stretched up and oh lord her collarbones. Her thin midsection and lanky being. The way her pixie sashayed in the breeze, the strawberry blonde always illuminated to that human kind of perfection in whatever light it was in. Her voice haunted her thoughts, cool like the slicing air that had cut around her skin as she sometimes sat by the fence of the home overlooking the ocean. Simply imagining her touch made the green gem's loins quiver.

Crushes were evil. They were a sickness that she couldn't, wouldn't sweat out. And oh, goodness, she did not ever want to sweat whatever this feeling was out. This was the torture of the sweetest kind.

She was suffering.

But Peridot had never felt so alive.

She was still mentally recovering from the attack on the pier. When Steven had taken her outside the following day, she'd seen construction work to rebuild it already starting. Homeworld technology would have gotten it rebuilt in an instant, but she supposed that the pitiful human machinery would make it take weeks. Oh well. Still, Garnet interrupting her so briskly made her alert and on the edge.

"What is it? I haven't done something wrong, have I?" She asked, not trying to be rude. She'd been careful with her behaviour, so to be addressed in such a manner was bordering on somewhat offence.

"Sit down. I want to talk." Garnet's stoic nature was pressing on her nerves. She swallowed as the fusion sat beside her. She drummed her palmless fingers on her green thigh with anxiety welling within her.

"Well?"

"About Pearl." Peridot froze. Oh by the name of Yellow Diamond and the rest of the Authority, this was it. She'd found out. Oh no oh no oh no oh no. What was going to happen? She had never asked for these awful feelings!

"Breathe." She looked up as Garnet spoke again. "You look like you're going to faint. I've been speaking with Pearl and she said she wants to train you to fight. Just something to defend yourself. You weren't built to do so, but neither was she. She just wants you to not have another anxiety attack the next time something hits us."

Oh.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, that does seem sensible."

"You being useless in situations like that is a danger. You need to learn to control your fears. It's alright, we all did and I know you can learn how to do it, too." Being called useless hurt. Well, implied to be useless, anyway. Peridot nodded. The other was right. "She'll find something you can fight with and help you train if you accept."

She gave a little shrug. "It's an obvious step forward. Sure."

"Good. But bear this in mind. We will be watching you more closely. With more skills you learn, the more powerful and more of a danger you will become. We trust you enough now to allow you to learn. If you prove yourself to us once more, we will consider allowing you to exit the premises without an escort."

She gaped. "Really? B-But… I'm your prisoner!"

"You're earning our trust. We want to show you that we have mercy to our allies. It's up to you to hold your end of the deal and make sure that trust isn't ill founded. You are to have no communication or attempt communication with the Homeworld. If anything, do whatever you can to make them assume you died alongside with Lapis and Jasper on your route here. We cannot have more forces sent to Earth, do you understand."

"Crystal clear." She nodded, but then sighed. "I'd attempt the latter if my communication wasn't completely down, anyway. You have nothing to fear on the matter. Unless there's a hub still standing on this Earth, I won't be able to breach any contact with our starsystem."

"Excellent. But, regardless, if you get the opportunity, send a distress signal and then something to indicate of your death to them. I'm counting on you."

The gem flushed, not expecting such responsibility or trust at all. These Crystal Gems were something else entirely. "Thank you. This whole… Trust thing means… A lot."

"I also trust you to try and calm your feelings for Pearl."

She gasped, drawing away. She knew. She knew about the feelings.

She knew about the…

The crush.

Oh no oh no oh no.

No no no no no this couldn't be happening.

Her eyes pleaded. "Y-You know?"

"Yes."

"But… How? I… I don't know… How? I haven't said a word to her about it."

"Hey." Garnet pointed at herself. "Made of love. Kind of had a song about it. It was pretty cool. You might have heard it from your point on the ship. Whatever. Look, you're heading into some pretty dangerous territory there. Not by just being on your position, but by having feelings with someone as emotionally vulnerable as her."

Peridot looked down. "She still has feelings for Quartz."

"Oh, don't mention that. It was a nightmare to deal with the emotional angst." She gave a sigh, rubbing at her temples. "I still feel awful for telling her off about it."

"Why aren't you telling me off about this?"

"I could forsee some things with Rose Quartz and her then future partner. The second I saw them interacting, my sight saw all possible streams of time heading towards their courtship. With Pearl's case, I only really ever saw pain as long as she held feelings towards our leader."

"Your sight… You're a fusion with a Sapphire, right?"

"Yes." Garnet gave a nod.

"So, you hold the power of future vision, still…" She trailed off. "They got rid of Sapphires because of that. You were too dangerous."

Garnet's face fell a little, but then returned to the stony typicality. "That's… Unexpected news."

"I'm sorry."

She sighed, resting forwards a little. "You aren't to blame for what Homeworld has become. Please, don't. You were right in that, you know. You're just a victim of the social structure that I'm not sure anyone can topple down. But it's important that we focus on the now."

"What do you expect me to do? I can't… Hold my emotions down. I've tried, but…"

"I know it's difficult. But now isn't the best time to pursue her. We still are wary of you, and she's still hurting."

"You're not saying no."

"I can't. How could I bring myself to disapprove of someone else's emotions? I can tell you that it won't work out, but really, I can't see that. That would be a lie. I also, however, cannot see it working out, so I'm not going to tell you to hide or stop what you're feeling. Because you can't. But what I am telling you is to be careful."

Peridot brought her knees to her chest. "I just don't know what's going on with me. I was built for obedience, apparently. Am I breaking?"

"You're just going through what she went through."

This caused a brow to rise from the Homeworld gem. "Huh?"

"Pearl began to develop away from her initial purpose when she began falling for Rose. It seems that emotionally driven actions cause whatever makes you want to obey to override. Love makes your systems go kaboom." Her fingers danced as she illustrated the hypothetical explosion with a gesture. "I wouldn't think of it as a bad thing. You're your own gem now, with little directive. Take pleasure in that instead of taking pleasure to purely obey your Yellow Diamond. You didn't need her in your life."

"But if I disobey… My purpose, won't I be a…" She closed her eyes. Gritting her teeth at the pain that the following word brought her. "A defect?"

She blinked as a warm hand was laid on her back. Garnet's lips curved into a gentle smile. "You're never a defect, Peridot. No matter what you become. That word is just what they use to keep you in line. It's not real."

"But what if I become corrupt like that gem? What if I hurt her somehow? Jasper said that she's a defect because… That I'm a defect, too."

"I promise it isn't real." Garnet replied. "You not hurting her is on your prerogative. And if you do, you have me and the rest of the Crystal Gems to answer to."

She sighed. At least there was a little comfort in the fusion's words. "Yes. I suppose so. But what about…"

"Jasper?" Garnet's features hardened. "I'll talk with her. If you're getting harassed or hurt by what she's saying then we can't make you deal with her alone. Don't think that's me saying you're weak. I know she can be hurtful by the things she says. But I promise that if you stick with us, nothing will hurt you like that. At least if we can help it."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty Four- As the Water Rises/Fifty Shades of Pearl**

"Get away from me, you disgusting thing!"

Jasper had been snapping, growling like an untamed dog ever since Garnet had silently slipped into sight. She hadn't said a word, allowing the other to get more and more angry as she stood. The other had bellowed, screamed. Even fallen to her knees as she desperately tried to claw her way forward through the chains.

Garnet stood through the insults. The screams. Undeterred.

Before finally replying.

"I'm sorry you see me like that. But you're a hypocrite for dissing fusion when you became one in your greed to try and beat me."

"I would tear you apart limb from limb! Just let me out of these chains and we'll have a second round!"

"Nah." She said, simply. "I don't think so."

"Then get out of my sight. I don't like you being here. You make me feel sick."

"Why?" She asked, stepping forward.

"Because you're… You! You're nothing but some lazy way in which to make yourself stronger."

Garnet gave a chuckle at this. "What if I told you you were wrong?"

"How? Ever since I was granted life, I've been fighting. Making myself stronger and stronger. I did that. Me! For myself. To improve myself so I could fight for my army and its cause. And then, you gross, despicable parasite of a being decide to fuse together and match what I have become. How is that fair? How am I supposed to feel? Not to mention the forsaken moral values of what you are. You, fusion, are nothing but a monster. A filthy abomination of a being."

Garnet stepped forward, booping Jasper's nose. "If that's true, I can say the same for you, shard. I know exactly what you are. But, really. If you can't stand to see me like this because you think I'm wrong or I shouldn't exist, then that's just something you have to deal with."

"I am not something as lowly as you! My existence was done for a reason!"

"Oh, and mine isn't? That's sad. Or can you just not accept that your fusion didn't work out while mine did? Is that why you're angry? Because you're jealous?"

"Don't talk about that. Don't you dare!"

"No. You have to come to terms with what you did. Forcing a fusion is abuse. You gave Lapis no choice and you treated her like dirt. What you did was unforgivable, and it was doomed to fail. You were in no position to try and fight us, and look at where it has put you."

"You don't know what it was like. Being stuck with her at the bottom of the ocean. Every moment was ghastly. I did what I had to do!" She then bent down, body tense with rage. "I can still hear her voice screaming at me. These chains will never have the same hold I had to wrestle, day in, day out. It was a living hell with no escape. I had to use the dirtiest tactics I could to get her to buckle. Do you think I enjoyed that? No! I'm not a monster. I am a warrior. I trusted her and she betrayed me. You all are traitors. But she… She took my trust and threw it on the ground. After the chances we had given her. She could have had a promising future with her powers back home, but no! No! She wouldn't help."

"We saw her condition on her message back. She was hurt!"

"So? We pry a few things from our interrogation. Everyone does that. But she could have been a lot worse off. And yet… Even with all that she did, I need to see her. I need to see whether she's alright. I need to see everyone. I want daylight again. I want to see the sun."

Garnet paused. "How was your time at the bottom of the sea? Did you not get any sunlight then?"

"No! What do you think? Every day I was bombarded with the vilest of thoughts. My body crushed in the Malachite realm. I was hurt, bruised and battered, every day. That gem, she might look weak but she's not. She hurt me." Every word was becoming a harsh pant. Jasper buckled down. "Eve-Every time I was forced to submerge, I was in agony. I couldn't swim back up. I don't need to breathe, but I can still drown. It was like I was being eroded, burnt. By water! How humiliating is that?"

"Please, calm down." Jasper's voice was becoming so frantic it was making the fusion uncomfortable.

"Calm down? How can I? When I look at you I'm reminded of how I felt when I was fused! Every painful scar in my mind bleeds and stings when I look at your hideous face!" She was clawing at herself, trying to rip her skin apart. Garnet gasped.

"Stop that. You don't need to hurt yourself!"

"Anything is less agony than how I feel! Anything in the real world is better than this torment. But I'm chained. I'm still a prisoner. Leave me! Let me be free, at least from you!"

Garnet grasped both of Jasper's hands and forced them apart. "Look at me. You need to stop hurting, both inside and out. You're never going to heal, otherwise."

"I'VE NEVER HEALED!" Garnet flinched at the orange gem's scream. "Not from this kind of hurt! I… I don't know how." Her head hung down as she took a shallow breath. "I don't… I don't know how."

"Oh, God. Okay. This is heavy." The fusion let her arms drop down. "Give me a minute." She stepped back and stood for a moment, as if in deep, unreadable thought.

She knew what she needed to do.

But could she? Why would she show Jasper mercy?

Jasper was unstable. She was hurt mentally and her presence was simply bringing back awful memories.

But surely that was her own fault.

No, she had been acting with desperation before. She had a duty to her own planet, just as Garnet had to hers.

Was that an excuse? Enough to warrant this?

She sighed. Yes. Jasper did not need more harm. Being like this was enough. She was going to destroy herself if she didn't heal.

She then clasped her hands together and moved them down. Causing a bright light to appear. She was going to unfuse. For Jasper.

…

Peridot looked around. They still kept statues of the Diamond Trifecta around? How strange. Did they even honour the three? Unlikely. But the stone built statues were a relic nonetheless. The gem blinked as Pearl threw her a wooden sword. "That's yours to keep to train with. You won't hurt yourself too much with it. When you're adequate, I will present you with a proper one."

The green gem gave a nod, pulling her thoughts away from the aesthetic of the arena. "How is this going to work?"

"Simple. I will train you. I've recently trained a human to swordfight, so you shouldn't be too difficult with your already inherent capabilities. Now, you must, for these sessions, learn to respect me as your mistress. Is that understood?" Peridot blushed. Wow. There was something so… Exciting in the other gem's sudden dominance. She liked the fierce Pearl. It made her want to act. She nodded and the pale gem responded. "Good. I'm well aware you, like me, take pleasure in being submissive to orders, so take this as such. It'll make the process easier."

Peridot nearly turned to jelly at the words. But she couldn't let herself be carried away. "Yes."

"Yes ma'am. For here."

"Yes ma'am."

That smile returned. Peridot spied a little sultriness in it. "Hm. Acceptable. Now, let's work a little on your body." She drew nearer. "You will be protecting yourself, and all I will teach you will be defensive. This is the intent of all this, correct?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

Peridot flushed emerald. "Yes ma'am."

"I expect you to learn your formalities. Don't make me have to punish you." Pearl crossed her arms, annoyance spreading over her features. "In this space, I am your superior. The human, you see, came out of willingness to learn. You, on the other hand, are here for necessity. I won't hesitate to whip you into shape if you don't behave how I want you to." She inched forward, whispering. "Don't forget, after all. You're the prisoner here, and I can do as I like."

"Something tells me you enjoy your dominance, ma'am."

Pearl gave Peridot's face a slap. She moaned. "Do not speak in this space unless you are spoken to. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good." She hissed. Peridot used her free hand to rub at the ache on her face. It sent tingles down her. Seeing Pearl like this, so grand, so powerful compared to her usual calm self was simply… Astounding. She liked it. She liked being ordered like this. "You are correct. I do enjoy teaching in a manner where my students are attentive and obey my every whim. I am of a different persona in this space, Peridot. I will be cruel, and harsh. But if you behave nicely, and obey, good deeds will be rewarded."

She brushed against Peridot as she inspected her stance. The gem could feel those fluttery feelings in her belly once more. Pearl drew back up and put a finger on her chin. "Now. Since you're on the defence, you will have to do everything to protect yourself. Your pose is important here. Spread your legs."

"What."

She was slapped again. "God. If you keep making mistakes, I will have to summon a crop to hit you with. My hand will get tired of all these… Incorrect statements. But since you're showing no better discipline than a wild animal, I suppose that's how it will have to be."

"Please, ma'am. Don't do that!"

"Silence. I will do as I wish. In this space, I am your superior. You are to learn that."

"Yes ma'am."

"Now, as I said before." Pearl twiddled her fingers. "Spread your legs. Your stance needs to be wide, your body focused on keeping your balance as something attacking you will attempt to knock you over." Peridot awkwardly brought her legs to open. It felt exposing. Awkward as the other stared at her every move. "Good. Bend your knees a little. Ah. That's it. Shoulder width apart, please. Excellent. Now, your torso is where you wield your weapon. You need to have everything centered, or your balance will be knocked over by the most gentle of breezes."

…

Steven laid down. It had been a busy day at Connie's. Her parents had taken them out for lunch in a nearby restaurant and then they'd gone to the library, which had been fun. The newest part of the Unfamiliar Familiar series had come out and been already stocked in, so it was good that they'd had the chance to each grab a copy.

Peridot was too exhausted to chat with, it seemed she'd had a long day training with Pearl. The green gem seemed to be of a happy kind of tired, so Steven was content with letting the other relax. Garnet was nowhere to be seen, and Amethyst had to clear a spot in her room to throw new junk into, so Steven had decided it was an ample opportunity to perhaps get an early night of rest.

He yawned, eyes closing as he turned.

A bright light. His eyes blinked open.

Lapis' stone.

She was back.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty Five - Water Fowl**

Steven's eyes glistened, red hot tears streaming down his face. The form grew, several feet tall with nimble hips. Her skirt fluffed out, ruffles blowing. Her back was delicately curved, thin hands crossed on her chest. Her hair grew out, a little thicker than before and with more layers. She descended down, bowing, before gently turning around, alert at her surroundings. A new side fringe covered one deep blue eye.

"Steven." She whispered.

"Lapis Lazulli." His voice was equally as quiet.

The air was still. The two looked at one another. Lapis took a step forward, still floating a little. Her footsteps were lightweight. Like a feather. Steven couldn't hold back any longer, he raced forward and swung himself into her arms. "Lapis! You're back! Oh gosh, I missed you so much!"

She took him. A little taken aback by his forward gesture, but curled around him nonetheless. Her touch was like velvet. She smelt like the most freshest of breezes, as he buried his face into her dress, it was like the most freshest of linen. She was striking, pallid blue skin illuminated by the waxing moon. "Yes." She replied, voice warm. Lulling over him. "I have returned. I'm so sorry."

"No, no! Don't be sorry, please! You tried so hard, you even got hurt! You don't need to hurt yourself. Especially not for me! Please!"

"Steven…"

"Please. Promise me that you won't do that again. I never, ever want you to be a prisoner to anyone ever, ever again. You've gone through so much. I'm so… I'm so tired of everyone acting like they need to be hurt for my safety. You don't need to sacrifice yourself, Lapis. Please!"

She drew a hand through his hair. It was so curly, it felt like dried grass. The thick ringlets sliding inbetween her fingertips. "I promise." She shushed him, voice low. "What's happened while I was gone? Were you all safe from Jasper? Did she hurt you?"

"She tried, she nearly won." He looked away, and then smiled. "But Connie and Peridot stood up to her." He then gave a giddy smile, sticking a rogue tongue out. "Did you know she has a weiner?"

Lapis blinked. Her face switched between disbelief and outright confusion. "What?"

He gave a giggle and then pushed his face into her again. "Ah, never mind. I'm so, so happy you're finally here! We can talk again! Properly! And you can meet my friends again. And this time you guys won't need to fight and Peridot is being all cool and maybe we can get Jasper to be a friend, too!"

Lapis opened her mouth and then closed it, gazing into the boy's shining eyes. He was just so happy, so radiant. She couldn't bring herself to dampen his spirit. "Steven." She said, quietly. She leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "I sure hope all that comes true. I really do."

Steven hopped onto his bed. "I hope you are okay, even if Jasper wasn't nice to you. I'm sure we can all get along once we forgive eachother. I talked to Jasper for a little bit and it seemed like she was hurting a lot because she'd believed in things that weren't really all true for a long time. Well, maybe some things are, but most of them she's dealing with coming to terms with now. I think she'll be okay, though."

Lapis smiled gently, her lip quivering. How could she have ever tried to block him out of her life. She needed someone so pure, so positive and happy. She sat down beside him, only to be enveloped into another hug. Steven then lay down, a massive yawn coming from his mouth. "Oh, gosh. I'm so tired. Hey, can we show the gems that you're back tomorrow? I really need to rest."

She nodded, understanding. "Would you like me to leave you alone for some privacy?"

He looked around, a little saddened by her possible departure. "Uhm. I've been having a lot of nightmares about you, actually… Would it maybe be okay if… You stayed? I know you probably need your space, too. But I just… I just think it might make me sleep easier. Just to have you here."

"Of course I'll stay." She lay down beside him, her gaze drifting to the ocean out of the window. She shuddered, closing her eyes. She felt a touch. Upon her vision returning, she realised Steven had curled up to her.

"Good night, Lapis." He said with a mumble. He was drifting away already.

Crow's feet came to the bottoms of her eyelids as she couldn't help but to look at his gentle form. He was so naive. So blind to what could be on its way. She couldn't ruin that. He was too pure. Too, too pure. She wrapped her arm around him, gently stroking the back of his head as he fell asleep.

Steven finally had the most content, happiest dreams a child should have. His nightmares were finally at peace, at least for now.

….

"This planet is special." A cool voice arose.

"It's special to us." A more heated tone.

Jasper had no idea how these two maintained their fusion at all. Their personalities clashed completely. The small red one had been pacing about as they spoke, while the other remained totally still. As if frozen on the spot.

"I'm sorry you still feel crappy about the whole war. But that was so long ago! You need to let it go, alright?" Ruby said, carrying her pacing over to the orange gem. "There's no point in dwelling over that. It happened, so what? Humanity has developed."

"That's true, Jasper." She said gently picking up her skirt and coming closer to her. "We've all changed and tried our best to move on. Homeworld needs to do the same. They also need to leave this planet alone."

"But what about us?" Jasper asked, hating how desperate she sounded. "Our world is being destroyed. We can't keep growing gems on it. It'll simply fall apart if we don't get places to nurture more gems and this planet was one of the ones with the perfect climate and soil for that."

"That doesn't mean you can just come in here and plant more parasite gems to suck up what we have!"

"Ruby. Please. Don't be so rash. She doesn't have the same values we do. We need to educate her if we want any hope of getting resolve."

"Fine." Ruby gave a groan, pouting. "But we can't just let her go! I don't wanna have her running around like Peridot. Not when she's dangerous." She leaned forward to Jasper, biting her lip. "I'm still down for that round two."

"Anytime, brat." Jasper raised a challenging eyebrow.

"You two. Stop it." The blue gem gave the two a cold glare. They stopped immediately, Ruby backing away. "Now, look. I understand you don't think of fusion as we do. And that's okay. We're not going to force you to look at us in that way, especially if you're still hurt from being a fusion yourself."

"We're only separating to make you feel comfortable, so you'd better be grateful for that!" Her tone was practically scalding.

"We're still upset by your actions. All of us are. You hurting Steven and imprisoning us was awful and unwarranted. But unlike Homeworld, we're willing to forgive you. We're not as savage as they are with these things. We want to forgive you, too"

"Gems aren't all bad. We know you can play nice, too." Ruby continued. Booping Jasper on the nose, just as Garnet had done. "I know what it's like to conform to one army and believe in it. Especially if they're the ones that made you. But if we let this planet become another gem breeding ground, people like Steven are gonna die."

"Humans are a lesser species." Jasper gave a grunt. "What's the point in trying to show them compassion? They could never fight us."

"Just because they aren't as strong or technologically capable as us doesn't mean they have no value." Sapphire replied. "We didn't see them as equals for a long time. Even Rose didn't. But they have potential, and thoughts and feelings. Just like us. They deserve for their planet to be safe from our harm."

"Fine. Whatever." Another grunt from Jasper. She was growing really tired of all this pacifist preaching.

"We're going to leave you to think for a while, alright?" Sapphire said as Ruby paced to her, twitching to fuse. "But you think about what we've said. Please. I know it's hard to come to grips with, but… I promise you'll like some of what this place and what humanity has to offer. You'd be surprised; human beings really are something else."

...

Peridot was deep in her rest, learning to hibernate again allowed her to keep some form of ritual to the day. She wasn't able to make any contact with others, but at least her body was recovering from Pearl's bruises.

That was, until she was rudely awoken with a thwack to the forehead.

"Ouch!" She rubbed at her gem. "What was that for?"

"Time to train!" Pearl sang as she twiddled a newspaper inbetween her fingers. "Oh, I have such a fun day planned ahead. You're going to be practically aching by the end of all the excericses I've got in store for you."

She felt her face warm again. Any other gem and they would have faced her finger projectiles. The only thing she wanted to do to Pearl with her fingers was trace around the gem's body with lazy lines, complimenting every feature the other had with shallow breaths that-

"Come on. Get up. We haven't got time to relax. The sooner we begin, the sooner we can finish and you can impress me with your new found skills." The other softly shook at her. Her voice gentler. Peridot also liked the gentle, caring Pearl. The one that showed affection and was kind. The other Pearl made her heart race while this one made her belly tingle. "I'll be waiting for you at the warp pad."

She watched Pearl leave, staring at the small bit of definition on her hips. Looking at the backs of her legs as she paced away. Why was that so attractive?

"Peridot, what are you staring at?" She nearly jumped out of her skin as Pearl spoke, her voice concerned. "Are you alright? Do you need the day off?"

"I, uhm." Her throat was hoarse. "I guess I'm just a little tired."

The pale gem's features softened. "Oh, dear. I guess I did overwork it a little yesterday. I'm sorry, I guess I just get a little carried away with being dominant for once. I don't really get to express myself in that way a lot you see, and I… Ugh. I'll tone it down a little, okay? You still deserve to be comfortable enough to want to train."

"No!" Peridot shot up. Oh no, did she make Pearl feel guilty? No no, that wasn't what she wanted. "Hey, it's alright. I… Enjoyed how… Direct you were. I need a little force in my training sometimes. It's nothing I'm not used to."

"Oh, but I hit you." She glanced down at her palms and then at the green gem. "I shouldn't have done that. Not after you proved yourself by saving us from Jasper."

"No. No, I liked that, too."

Pearl blinked in surprise. "You… Did?"

"Yes. It felt… Really good."

"Oh." She looked around. That odd teal colour brushing itself onto her cheekbones. "Peridot, are you… A masochist?"

What was that? "A what now?"

"Oh, heavens, ignore me. I've been reading too much literature of the smutty kind. Never mind! It must just be your obedience directive kicking into play. I'll keep that mind mind, I suppose..." She was completely flushed. Peridot couldn't keep herself from giggling a little. Pearl rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Look, I'll let you have the morning off, but I'll be waiting for you when you're done, alright? We have a long day ahead of us."

She longed to tell the other how she felt when she saw Pearl's smile. So sweet. So caring. She wanted to gush to the gem about all these odd feelings and how they were simultaneously tearing her apart but putting her back together. She wanted to scream the words about this weird Earth crush.

It was crushing her, honestly. Maybe that's why they called it that.

"Pearl?"

The crystal gem turned around once more. "Yes, Peridot?"

"Uhm…." Oh. What did she want to say? How could she say how she felt? The other gem still saw her as no more than a prisoner. No, no. It was bad. She couldn't admit anything of the sort. Oh, by all things gem related, she hated this entrapment. "Do you think… You could make me some Earth bean juice? What was it, oh, yes, I-I would very much enjoy some coffee!"

Pearl gave her that smile. That half lidded, quiet and knowing smile. If only she knew what Peridot felt.

"Of course, Peridot. Anything for you."


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty Six- Broken Wings**

Steven awoke to screaming.

The form he had so gently fallen asleep to was thrashing, mumbling incoherent babbles. Her words spaced out and surreal. He couldn't make out any of it, as if Lapis Lazulli was speaking a whole different language altogether.

Amethyst was the first to reach his room. "Steven! You alright? Whoa! What the hell?"

He scrambled out of his bed, only to find he was drenched in water. There were bubbled of it drifting around the room before pelting down upon the two Crystal gems. "I think she's having a nightmare or something!"

"Well, wake her up! This is weird!"

"Lapis!" He leaned over her side. Trying to shrug off the covers she was so tightly wrapped up in. They were covered in water, too. "Lapis, wake up!"

Her screams grew more shrill, more panicked. Her tore at her hair.

Steven began to cry, terrified.

He.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what was happening to the other. She was hurt but she was in her own world.

He felt powerless.

Her pained shouts continued.

…

Pearl grunted as she leapt forward, drawing her arms at the ready. Peridot clashed her wooden sword against the other's, slashing it down. She ducked to miss Pearl's swing and tiptoes backwards before charging forth.

"Lighter on your toes! You're still too heavy!" She heard the other's scold, and the green gem carefully shifted her weight.

"It's not my fault I'm built with more fabricated matter than you!" She barely managed to dodge a deadly swing.

"Do not forget who you are speaking to!" Pearl snarled, crouching down as she limboed below Peridot's arm and maneuvered around before digging her knee into the green gem's solar plexus. The Homeworld gem heaved, bending double. She needed to recover, quick, or Pearl would win the spar.

"Sorry, _mistress_. This one is mine, though!" She jumped away as Pearl nearly had her, but her landing was awkward. She fell because of a miscalculation, her back foot bent too much and she slipped, landing on her rear end.

She felt a sting at her neck.

The end of Pearl's sword had her at the pale gem's mercy. The dancer gave a dangerous smirk. "You're yet to prove that, Peridot." She then drew away and slipped the sword down and into a sheath. "However, that's still improvement. Good work. Your footwork is still sloppy. You're too heavy. Think to be more graceful. More fluid. I know your body is limited in such capabilities, but unless you learn to use that to your advantage, it's currently your prime weakness."

"Sorry." She sighed, putting her sword down in defeat.

"Nonsense." The other laughed, her mean demeanor disappearing. This meant the training session was over. "Your attacks and tactics show clear development. You're extremely intelligent and always think, but you need to combine that with the present. Your mind and body need to become one if you want to survive. Your dysphoria with matter will be something you just need to work on to help you live on earth."

It had been about a week of this. She'd picked it up quickly, learning to cope with Pearl's persona on the fabricated battlefield. She knew she was already stronger. Pearl couldn't see her ever winning, however, on the pure notion that Peridot herself had come upon the discovery that she could never bring herself to harm the other.

"I guess we're done for today." She said, her voice musical as ever. Peridot gave a fond smile and allowed Pearl to help her up. "You know, this reminds me so much of when I trained under Rose's wing."

Her mood dropped at the instant. She frowned, struggling to keep her distaste hidden. Her voice sardonic. "Fascinating."

"Indeed! She recognised me for my potential and taught me of the art of war. It was just another dance, back then. Another partner to swing my body around. I could never hurt her, though. No matter how hard I tried."

The two sat down beside eachother, watching the sky. Peridot leaned towards her. "Why did Rose choose to make you be this… Graceful kind of warrior? Surely it must have gone against all actual sense."

"I guess so. But Rose wasn't like… She didn't force herself to confine under the plausabilities of calculated realism. Rose allowed herself to dream, and that's how she furthered herself and her influence. She raised an entire army, after all."

Peridot looked into the candyfloss hued sky. Her gaze drawing distant. That was true. What kind of gem had the pink being been to manage such a feat? It was hard to even begin to imagine.

She could never compare to that. She could never be to Pearl what Rose had been to the pale gem. And Peridot loathed herself for it.

…

Another group discussion. Garnet was becoming quite the regular for initiating these. The Crystal Gems and Peridot had sunk down on the couch as the fusion paced about the living room, twitching a little.

"Yo, Garnet. What's this about?" Amethyst twiddled a finger through her locks, lazily settling down. "You look like you've just seen a pile of poop on the carpet."

Steven himself had felt a prick of unease at the acting of the tall gem There had been an odd… Confused mannerism about her. As if she herself wasn't quite able to make up her mind. "Garnet." He carefully spoke, perking her attention. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine." She said plainly. "I brought you all here to discuss the future of Jasper."

The others looked at her, an array of expressions over their faces. "Y-You're not gonna bubble her, are you?" Peridot blinked, a little nervous. The others glared down at her, all aside from Steven. Clearly, although invited to this discussion, she was not entirely welcome to speak out. Powerplay dealt the worst hand to the green gem.

"I've been speaking to her." Garnet said, much to the surprise of the others. "She's willing to cooperate and attempt to win at our trust, like Peridot."

"Garnet, you cannot be serious! What about all she has done?"

"She, like Peridot, will remain a prisoner indefinitely." Garnet spoke aloud, bringing her thoughts together. "However, she cannot remain in her confinement forever. She is sick. Even if Steven tries to heal her, she will remain vulnerable, both physically and mentally. This is clear."

Steven's gaze flitted upwards. Lapis.

The blue gem hadn't spoken much at all since their initial reunion. She seemed shaken. Disturbed.

It was uncomfortable to even try and speak to her, sometimes. It was if she wasn't even there. Her tone wasn't necessarily unfriendly. It was just as if she was even more foreign than before. She flinched at all too many sudden noises. She would go into her wild, manic states nearly every night. It was as if she were in a trance.

Steven couldn't touch her. Well, physically, he could.

But she was… She was different.

And it made his chest tighten.

He was drowning with her.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty Seven- The Art of Breathing**

The Crystal Gems stood nervously at the portal, all aside from Garnet. They had no idea what would happen next. Peridot had felt the tension be too thick, and had instead retreated to the kitchen with one of Steven's comics. She still couldn't read- not that she'd admit that to anyone, but she enjoyed attempting to make up dialogue for the characters, even when what they were saying was an incoherent mess.

"Steven, stand behind us. We need to be prepared in case she attempts to attack." Pearl gave a firm warning, much to the annoyance of the boy.

"I talked to her before. She should be fine. If Garnet trusts her enough to let her leave her chains, then we've gotta, too."

"Steven…" She sighed, trying to contradict him. This all felt uncomfortable and unsafe.

"He's right, P. We've gotta make sure we act as a group on this one." Amethyst gave her a look. "I don't like it much, either. But we all promised to try and give her a chance. If I gave Peridot one, you've gotta try now too."

"Yes." She nodded, sincere.

The warp pad became lit, and the glow brought the two figures into vision. Jasper stood behind Garnet, her expression uncharacteristically aloof. She appeared to be a little nervous. Her posture tense. Garnet stepped off, and gave the taller built gem a nod.

There was complete silence as all of them looked at her. And she looked back at them.

No one moved.

Her golden eyes narrowed. "What are you all looking at?"

"Jasper!" Steven called out, racing towards her. "You're out! That's great!"

She didn't respond, only glowering down at the boy. A gleam in her eyes that just seemed to scream murder. Pearl couldn't handle it. She stepped forward between the two. "You don't get to look at him like that."

"Pearl, back off." She was shocked at Garnet's brisk reply. "She already knows her rules. She won't do anything you're not happy with. Steven is safe."

"Can I go and settle down somewhere?" Jasper looked away, slouching. "I didn't agree to all your terms just to be yelled at by the Crystal Gems hate squad the second I didn't give them a look they didn't like."

"Uh… You can sit down on the couch!" Steven offered a smile. "I mean, that's where Peridot's been staying but…"

"Peridot can stay in my room." Pearl replied hastily. The others gave her a look. "It's not like she hasn't been in it before, and clearly you two are going to be uncomfortable with sharing this space. I like her enough to let her stay close to me. Just like Steven's allowed Lapis to stick with him."

"Then, that's decided. Peridot, feel free to move your things to Pearl's room. You're sharing that with her now. Jasper, you can make yourself comfortable and make yourself at home, alright? You can ask us any questions as long as they comply with the rules." Garnet said, crossing her arms. A tiny, knowing smile on her face.

…

"Lapis?" He whispered. It was night. The gem hadn't spoken to him for what felt like an eternity. She did seem a little more lucid, however. He brushed his hand down to meet hers. She gripped it for comfort, rubbing her thumb over his skin. "Lapis. You all know we want to help you. I just want you back again."

"But I'm here." She said, her voice broken.

"It's not the same."

"I'm sorry. I… I can't change what I am. What I've become. I'm Malachite."

"No." He shook his head. Gently moving up to hug her. He hated her flinch, even when he tried to be as careful as he could. He knew she couldn't stop her jerks. "You're still Lapis Lazuli. I promise. Oh! I forgot to brush my teeth! I'll be right back, okay?"

Her absence in her tone made his heart wrench. "Okay…"

He sped down the steps, practically sliding down them. He nervously crossed into the living room. How odd. It was so silent. He was reminded of how only a few weeks ago it had been so gentle and still. Before Lapis, before Jasper. Before Peridot.

No. He didn't regret any of this. The tension would smoothly rock away. That's just how life worked. He noticed the absence of Jasper, but didn't pay much attention to it. More focused on reaching the bathroom.

As soon as he'd finished brushing his teeth, he gurgled water and turned the lights off. Good. At least in all this mess, his dental hygiene would remain top tier. At least that wouldn't be a cause for worry. He smiled, padding to the kitchen and grabbing a glass of water before slowly creaking up the stairs.

He froze.

"Lapis. Please, talk to me."

Jasper.

Jasper was in his room. Speaking to her.

"Why should I speak to you? How could they even let _you_ near me?" There was more emotion in Lapis' tone than there had been for days. Steven crouched.

"Please. Listen. I want to fix this. I want to fix all of this." There was a new hint in Jasper's voice the boy had never really noticed before. It was vulnerable. Begging. "I hate being hated. I hate it when they stare at me the way they do. Like I'm gross. I can't talk to Peri. It's too awkward. I can't talk to anyone but that Garnet, and that's only when she's unfused. Please."

"You hurt me. I never wanted to be a prisoner, and you made me one again and again." She hissed. "How am I meant to forgive you? I have no home. I'm a complete mess. Every night I have nightmares from what _we… You_ did to me. And I'm just meant to let that go?"

"Lapis, no. No… Come here, you little bird. I'm sorry you're so hurt." There was a… A gentleness in that tone.

"I'm not falling for that again! I can't let you be nice to me again just to hurt me! Do you not know how painful it is?"

"Please, you're going to get everyone to come up here. Shh." Steven looked up to see the moonlit outline of Jasper's large form hugging tightly to Lapis. Lapis wasn't fighting. No. She was sobbing. Moving with her hitched breaths. "You don't need to forgive me. You don't need to do anything. I'm sorry. I'm just so sorry. I was so angry when we were Malachite. I was filled with rage and I wanted to break things all the time. I completely lost myself, it was like I was sick. I am sick."

"You're a sick and twisted thing."

"I am."

"I hate you."

"I hate myself, too." Jasper's voice was shaky.

"You hate yourself because of what you are. Not because of what you've done. That's different. You don't care about all the nasty, evil things you do to others at all. That's why I hate you. Because you never, ever take responsibility."

"Lapis, please." Jasper appeared to have let her go. The water gem was punching at her chest while she just stood there. Taking it. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I manipulated you to go so far. I'm sorry I called you a traitor. I'm sorry I hurt you. I wreck things, it's what I do. Do you really think I can ever like myself when all I ever do is destroy?"

"I hate you. I hate you so much!"

"I know." She sighed as Lapis' punches to her gut grew weaker and weaker. The other gem was losing her battle, becoming more and more distraught. Jasper grabbed her into another embrace. "But we're all stuck here. Me, you and Peri. The odds are against us ever coming back home as proper citizens of Homeworld, but I promise. I will make it up to you. I will protect you and your friends."

"H-How could I ever trust you?" Her voice was muffled against Jasper's chest.

"Please." Jasper stroked at the back of her head. "Give me a chance. I promise I can be good again."


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty Eight- Strawberry Fields Forever**

"You… Sure you're okay with me in here?" Peridot asked, awkwardly sitting on a space that had been delegated to her. Pearl had managed to rise a rock for her to display her few possessions on.

"Absolutely. Your companionship is much appreciated, and we won't be here all the time. If you need to rest or clear your thoughts, this space is now for you as much as it is for me. I trust you enough to be respectful."

"Oh." She rubbed the back of her neck. Flushing as she looked away. "Thanks. That's… Really nice of you."

Pearl smiled back. "Ah, I try. Still. Is there anything you want to do?"

"Well. Now that I'm allowed to explore, I'd, uh… Like to visit some sites. Not the kindergarten, that would probably be inappropriate, but… I like to think of myself as a little bit of a historian. I'd like to see some of the places Gems used to occupy."

"Oh, yes. You told me. You are… Were one of Homeworld's greatest assets when it came to research about Earth." Pearl jumped beside her. Peridot looked nervously away. "I'm surprised you haven't seen all that much of it for yourself."

"No, I haven't had the chance. All my knowledge comes from texts that I've now realised are completely false and outdated. But fair enough to their authors, most of them were only documenting facts for Homeworld's future usage of the planet with the future thought of the planet being destroyed because of our use."

Pearl had the naughtiest smile dancing over her lips. She grabbed Peridot's arm, nearly yanking the thing off as the other quickly stood up with her. "I know exactly the place. Let's go!"

They crossed to the warp pad, Peridot's loins racing with what felt like magma. Pearl was openly expressive, but it was rare of her to see the other this excited. They briskly jumped aboard the platform and Pearl eagerly transported them away.

Peridot opened her eyes, previously blinded by the pad's light. She gazed around as she realised she was outside. Vast plains stretched out with rolling hills in the distance. Everywhere she looked, the green gem could see bright, colourful berries splashing more colour to the scene. She also spied some vast pieces of what she recognised as antiquated war tools and weapons strewn across the ground.

She nearly fell to her knees.

She'd only ever dreamed of visiting this place. Only her mind had ever crossed it. Never would she have thought that her feet would touch its ground, or that the air would smell so sweet. She realised Pearl had hopped off and was now looking over her expression with that grin. The air, hot from the heat of summer was ruffling at the pale gem's ribbon. Her hair. She looked like she belonged here.

Pearl finally spoke aloud.

"I take it you know where we are?"

"It can't be." She shook her head, pure excitement filling her. "This is… This is the site of one of the biggest battles this part of the galaxy has ever seen! And someone decided to make it a good place to grow some _strawberries?_ "

Pearl's laugh was dainty. "Yes. Rose. Strawberries are a part of the rose family. This whole place. It reminds me so much of everything I stood for. So many things happened in this space, you wouldn't even know."

Peridot stepped forth, feeling the grass spongy at her tread. Her excitement fueling her. Pearl seemed to be in a good place. A bittersweet but… Happy place. Oh, in the name of Yellow Diamond, Peridot could feel everything mixing in her. Emotions and fears.

"Peridot?" Pearl asked, nervous, as the green game came close.

She had no idea what she was doing. "If so many things happened in this space, I want to contribute."

"What do you mean?"

 _"Pearl._ " She said, her voice suddenly gaining a few notes to it. She realised she was singing. _"I can't express how much I'm grateful."_

 _"You had every right to be hateful._

 _To choose must have been hard,_

 _You must have loathed me and that shard._

 _I suppose, we've all gone past our values._

 _Sentimental, you speak to me with volume._

 _And… Now, all I do,_

 _I guess I want to say,_

 _I just wish I could be just like her._

 _What Rose was to… You._ "

She blinked as Pearl responded. Her voice was so clear. It cut her like thin ice as she carried the melody that the Homeworld just had come out with.

 _"Peridot, you just don't know,_

 _What Rose reaped, I must now sow._

 _My feelings for her are way beyond_

 _What Homeworld knows. Practically, they abscond._

 _But that's okay, I guess it's just a part of this place,_

 _To feel for her, to kiss her face._

 _They placed things in your head,_

 _Rough judgements, punishments left unsaid._

 _But you've learnt so much, come so far,_

 _I know this world must seem so bizarre._

 _And I'm proud of you._

 _All that you do."_

She stood up, more confident in her voice. She still had absolutely no idea what was happening. But her body felt like a flame she'd finally grasped enough to control.

 _"I know I don't have a past like what you shared,_

 _But you help me, even when I'm impaired._

 _That's something they never did,_

 _So, I lied. So, I hid._

 _These feelings are just so unclear._

 _I need you to hold me dear._

 _Selfish, gross, but I guess it's true,_

 _I just can't stop thinking about you._

 _I'm tired of hiding what I want. Please,_

 _It would mean everything if you answered these pleas._

 _"Dear Gem, Give me a chance._ " She managed her way to her knee, realising how clammy her palms had become. She looked up at the other, posturing herself just as Pearl had done when she'd seen her before, with her dance with Rose. She looked up to see that the light coloured gem had gone completely flushed, holding her own hands to her face.

Peridot carefully outstretched her hand.

 _"Pearl, will you grant me this dance?"_

 ** _A/N:_ I'm working out the chords for the song itself. Might post something up.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty Nine- General Confusion**

Quiet.

There was a long, drawn out lull.

Silence.

Peridot's hand trembled. Her pulse raced. Twitching.

The two stared at one another. Peridot's eyes pleading. Pearl's were mesmerised.

The Homeworld gem's hand was then taken by the one who had fought against her kind on the very same battlefield so many years ago. Pearl's touch was smooth, cold. Peridot's was smoother. There was a clear erosion on the pale gem's skin, as if time itself had worn away on it.

Peridot raised her body, slowly. She took Pearl's other hand.

It was in this moment she realised she'd forgotten a crucial fact.

She had no idea how to dance.

The green gem's lip quivered. She felt like crying. She'd come so far and she knew she was doomed to fail.

Pearl laughed gently and stepped up close, moving her hands for her. Peridot's face grew hot as Pearl pressed her forehead against her's. A jolt racing through them as their gems lightly met. "Follow my footsteps, alright?" She whispered, stepping a lone foot inbetween Peridot's legs. "I'll teach you. It's okay."

Peridot nodded feverishly and allowed herself to move with Pearl, synchronising her footsteps with the other gem. Lime skin on alabaster, touching. Meshing. She had to hold her breath as the gem slowly inched her hand onto her waist. Pearl was humming their song as they gradually moved into a very shaky and amateur waltz. Obviously, she knew what she was doing, but was accommodating herself for the other's slower pace.

The Homeworld gem felt her arm be pressured to awkwardly move up. She followed her new lead and found herself twisting around as Pearl pirouetted her. The world spinning past like a blur. She nearly fell over but found herself caught in a dip.

Pearl was supporting her body, hands roaming where they'd never been before. Touches gentle.

"…Pearl." She gave a mewl, eyes meeting hers. Baby blue. She'd grown to love that colour.

The other gem's voice was spiced with a pinch of concern. "Is this okay?"

"…Yes."

"Good." She was brought back to stability. Again, close to the gem. She could smell the other's scent again. Still fresh and new, but without the bitter pang this time. They went back to the footwork, a little more brisk this time.

Peridot felt alive. Her body overwhelmed with every sensation. It was as if she was exploring the beginning of a brand new world. Standing on the first step of a never ending staircase. Pricks and tingles of pure sensation ran through her as they repeated the dance. She realised there was a soft glow emanating from their gems.

Were they…

Were they about to fuse?

Pearl was completely in her own world, eyes focused on her new task, but Peridot's stomach churned with unease. She realised she was being turned again, the glow even more prominent. As she was dipped, it was nearly blinding.

She began to panic. No. No, this was forbidden. Bad. Gross. Disgusting! Her mind flashed with pictures of the Cluster. They were about to become that abomination. This felt so right, but she couldn't let it carry on.

She was dipped again. Pearl leaned down. Her lips inches from those of the green gem.

Peridot pushed her away.

"I-I… I can't! I'm sorry!" She shrieked.

The pale gem was standing over her. Her face shocked. Then crestfallen.

"Oh."

"I-I'm… I'm sorry!" Peridot's hands covered her face. "I… I can't… I don't know what came over me! Please… I didn't mean to! I don't want you to be sad."

Pearl's expression bordered on disappointment, then as if she was about to cry. Her cheeks completely flushed. She leaned down. "It's okay. It's alright. I shouldn't have made you uncomfortable."

"P-Pearl!"

"It's fine. We won't do that again."

…

"Steven! You'll never guess what I bought!" Connie cheerfully ran onto the beach with a CD on hand. They had decided to meet up on the beach. Steven had yet to explain the situation at home. "Look!"

"The Dogcopter movie soundtrack? How'd you get that?"

"My dad let me go to a garage sale because mom's been out of town. She doesn't like me going to them, but he said that as long as my allowance had been split into savings and stuff, I could buy something useful! And this is pretty much all orchestral pieces!"

He brought his hands to his face and cheered. "Woo hoo! Come on, what are we waiting for? Let's put it on and jam!"

"You have a CD player in your home, right?" Connie asked, racing up the stairs.

"Wait, Connie!" He realised he'd left Jasper and Lapis awkwardly staring at eachother in the living room. "Hold on!"

"Hah, I'll race you up there!"

"Wait up! I've gotta explain! Connie!" It was too late. She'd already ran into the house.

"I…! Win?" She stopped. Glancing at Jasper and then Lapis. And then at Jasper again.

Jasper turned her head, slowly.

Connie gulped.

"You! It was you who kicked me in the tentadick!"

The girl took a step back, looking around. "I-I'm sorry! We were fighting! You'd hurt my friends a-and…" She trailed off as Jasper stood up, looming over her with a fierce gleam in her eyes.

She then gave a respectful nod. "A brilliant tactical manoeuvre. Hey, Lapis. Check it out. This is the one I was talking about."

"Oh. Her?" Lapis looked over her. "But she's so small. I can't believe she kicked your ass."

"She kicked me in the weak spot! My ass is _completely_ different." Jasper crossed her arms. She then faced the terrified Connie with a haughty grin. "Try and kick my firm butt and you'll break your damn leg."

"Oh, heavens. So you boast." Lapis rolled her eyes. "As someone who was fused with you, I beg to differ."

Steven finally managed his way into the room. Completely out of breath. "Okay. Okay, you guys aren't killing each other. That's good."

The orange gem gave a baffled expression. "Am I meant to? I mean, I could, but I thought she was your ally and-"

"Steven! If I die, my parents won't let me go to your house anymore!"

"Nobody's dying!" He stated, opening his arms. "Connie's here to hang out for a little while. She sometimes comes over and we do fun stuff. Are you guys okay with that?"

Jasper's eyes narrowed. "Depends on whether the quantities of fun are acceptable."

"Jasper!" He frowned, stepping around the room to look for the aforementioned CD player. "All levels of fun are acceptable, as long as no one gets hurt."

"This planet is bizarre." She plonked herself back down on the couch. Making a miniature earthquake occur. "Getting others hurt _is_ the fun part."

"Steven." Connie whispered as she bent by him. "I'm scared."

"It's okay." He whispered back. "They won't actually hurt you. I mean, Lapis already kinda did. But she won't try and drown us again, will you, Lapis?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah. I'll try."

"See?" He beamed. He then dropped to a much more awkward expression as he realised Connie was still somewhat terrified. "Come on. Let's put on the CD. Hey, maybe they'll like it, too." He gently coaxed her to slot the disc in as he plugged the player into the socket. "They're all pretty good tunes. I kinda like the one that was playing when Dogcopter busted into the hotdog eating competition."

Connie managed a giggle. "I still can't believe he thought they were eating real dogs."

"Eating puppies is no laughing matter!" Steven put his hands on his sides and puffed out his chest before selecting the right track and pressing play. The action-y music began to fill the room, perking the attention of the two Homeworld gems. The children began to dance to it, laughing.

"I can't believe they're already pressing musical propaganda onto children." Jasper gave Lapis a side eye as she watched the two move. "I guess it's the right idea, though. Get them indoctrinated early."

Connie's arms bet Steven's. The two grinned before Steven gave her a mischievous look and nodded to the two Gems. She gave an equally up to no good smirk back and they drew closer. They would give the two something to gander at.

Both the Gems turned as the glow began to take over the room.

"Steven!" Lapis stood up as she realised the boy was no longer.

Jasper's cry was drowned out as the warp pad activated and Pearl and Peridot awkwardly shuffled into the room. The green gem saw the new figure in the room and gave a shocked yell as she stepped off the pad.

Stevonnie cocked an eyebrow.

"So. Watcha think?"


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty- Obligatory Beach Episode**

Peridot screeched.

Jasper screamed like a three year old getting a tooth pulled out.

Lapis… Well. Lapis looked as if she were about to faint.

"Is there ANYTHING on this planet that ISN'T downright sinful?" The oranged gen bellowed, tugging at her hair. "Look at it! Look at it! Peridot! I'm going to cry!"

The green gem wailed. "Don't ask me for help! I'm crying at the abomination!"

"Eh. I think it's pretty cute." Lapis gave a meek little shrug and then a thumbs up. "Can I fuse with you next, Steven?"

"No!" Jasper bounded over and threw Lapis over her shoulder before Stevonnie could reply. "You are not doing that!"

"That's not fair! If the human gets to, I should too!" She pounded her fists on Jasper's back. Her actions were very much ignored. Pearl watched the shenanigans from a distance before giving a sigh.

"Steven. Connie. ...Stevonnie. You know the Homeworld gems are uncomfortable with fusion. Garnet keeps herself undone for Jasper's comfort when they talk. I don't think it's very appropriate for you two to be showing this to them." She put her hands on her hips. "I think you should maybe take this outside if you wish to remain fused, but it's not something you should just do for show. Fusion is not a cheap parlour trick."

Stevonnie frowned, upset at being told off. "But… I thought it'd be cool."

"There's nothing cool about making others uncomfortable. Both of you should know that. Now, come on. Before I have to bring a mop to wipe up Peridot's tears." She leant down beside the green gem. "And you snap out of it. I know it might be unorthodox to you, but we still regard it as the closest bond between gems. And humans, in Steven's case, I suppose. You too, Jasper. Don't forget that you were Malachite."

"Hah! I wish I could forget!" She patted a hand on Lapis' rear end. The smaller gem squeaked. "This beast of a gem gave me hell the whole time. Alright, I feel sick at looking at the.. The thing, so I think I'm going to go. Lapis, I'm taking you away."

"I am actually going to kill you! Put me down!"

"...Nah. I kinda like you up here."

...

Pearl sighed. The house was somewhat quiet, but her mind was in a complete mess. She looked outside, the waves rolling gently on the ocean. It was already dark. Peridot had… Admitted things. She couldn't quite decipher them, really. What had she meant? Did she know how _much_ Rose meant to her? Did she really wish to have that kind of bond? No. There was no way. She'd refused to fuse. There was no way she was interested in pursuing anything outside… Something.

She groaned. What did Peridot want, then? She had noticed the other get flustered often in her company, but Pearl had always sympathized with this. She, too, blushed frequently at things. It was in her nature and she just assumed Peridot was the same. It was also true that these kinds of feelings and their expression was different in the Homeworld. At least the Homeworld she herself knew. Goodness, with how it had developed, she would be surprised if gem romance was even existent.

It was true, she had felt desire to fuse. But she other did. Amethyst was often hard to deal with and their relationship was, well, rocky to excuse the pun but she still found a secret pleasure that came from being Opal. She loved the strength fusion brought her. She just… Loved other gems, really.

Perhaps it had come from being the submissive thing she was always supposed to be. Pearls were servant class. She still had vague emotional flashbacks to finding absolute, overwhelming pleasure from obeying. It was enticing. But her hunger for power had become a thirst greater than her original intent.

Rose was power personified. Or, she had been, anyway. But she had also been in love with Rose. In human love.

Peridot couldn't possibly know what that was. Dancing was just a born thing most gems knew how to do. It was surprising she didn't, but perhaps that was because of her background. She had never needed to dance and thus had most likely never learnt. But even breeding hadn't managed to successfully remove that out of her system. Yes. That had to be it. Peridot had been seeking her internal desire to dance. Pearl smiled as she pounded her hand on the table. She'd worked it out. No strange secret crush feelings. Just a desire for dancing.

Because, really. Who would ever fall in love with a lowly Pearl?

She closed her eyes and crossed her arms, dragging nails over her arms. No one ever had. No one ever would. Pearls were weak. They were pathetic. They were pawns in the game of chess between bigger gems. That's all she would ever be. Fusion really was a tactic for her to escape that.

Rose had been different. But Rose wasn't here anymore.

She stood up. Stomach welling with guilt. Sometimes, Steven looked just like her. Especially when he slept. She desired to see that part of him. Still there. Rose was… Still there.

No. She'd promised not to do it. She had been clean for a near month.

But she needed it. Now.

Just this one time. No more. Last time. After this, she was quitting cold turkey.

Who was she kidding. She knew she'd spend thousands more hours watching him rest. And all of it was worth it. Just for her. For Rose.

She gently clambered up the steps, wiggling with excitement. Oh, gosh. This was getting creepy. She had no idea what she'd do when he would grow older. Human inhibitions would kick in then and it would become weird. He'd start to look like Greg, which she knew would make it even worse.

Oh well. She had to savour it while it lasted.

Wait.

Jasper?

She climbed up to his room to see Jasper over Steven's resting body, poking at him with a finger. She turned to Pearl. "Oh! You're here. Good. The tiny Quartz child has broken and might be dead. He isn't responding."

"He's sleeping. He's half gem and needs to rest his body in order to function properly." Ugh. This was bringing way too many awkward flashbacks of her raising the boy in his youth. As much as she had begun to somewhat enjoy the company of the other gems, it was becoming rather frustrating having to explain these things.

"I see." Jasper gave a nod. "Good tactics, lil' soldier. Live to fight another day."

Okay. Okay, Pearl had to admit Jasper's kind side was adorable. She folded her arms as she smiled. "Why do you need him, anyway?"

"It's too warm in the house and there's nothing to do." Jasper replied. "Peridot told me to find him. He knows what to do when there's dark times of boredom afoot."

Indeed. The lack of time used for sleep meant a surplus of it. Pearl had used the time to teach herself many things, such as reading and the violin. "When will he reform from this exhausted state?"

"By the morning."

"By the morning? But that's lightyears away!"

Steven grumbled, opening his eyes at the noise. He then realised Jasper was directly atop of him and that Pearl was in his bedroom. "Oh, great. Now he's going to get all worried I watch him sleep again!" The pale gem sighed. "Hello, Steven. Go back to sleep. Jasper just came to wake you up because she's bored."

"Oh." He blinked, rubbing at his eyes.

"We all are." Jasper shrugged. "We got tired of playing catch with Peridot's fingers and she doesn't really like us doing that, anyway. It's too hot in the house. It's uncomfortable."

"Oh!" Steven nodded, getting himself out of the bed. "We could all go down to the beach and build a bonfire. I don't mind. Summer break is over, so all the big kids won't be there to bother us! Lemme throw some shoes on."

...

"Will this be enough?" Peridot threw her collection of driftwood sticks onto the pile. The four of them, Steven, Lapis, Peridot and Jasper had all curled around it as the boy attempted to set it alight. Peridot rolled her eyes as the matchsticks refused to cooperate and blasted it with her arm. "There."

At once, the multicoloured flames danced, illuminating the figures of the gems on the beach. Steven had decided to sit on Jasper's lap as he stuck a marshmallow onto a stick and handed the other gems their own. "You just hold them over. Like that! Not too close, Lapis, or it'll burn."

"But why would we do this if we don't want them to burn?"

"Just trust me. It tastes great!"

"This whole eating thing seems weird. This whole Earth is weird." Jasper held her stick over the flames. "It's nothing like how I remember it."

"That was hundreds of years ago! They didn't have s'mores back then!" Steven countered, watching his marshmallow turn golden brown.

"I was stuck here the entire time and I don't recall this ever being a thing." Lapis said, drawing her knees to her chest, exposing her legs a little to the heat. "But, then again. I was in a mirror."

"How did you even get stuck in that primitive object?" Pearl blinked. "You never explained that back home. You're a pretty high class gem, even what with your antiquated magic. Breaking out should have been easy."

The blue gem sighed. "It was a long, long time ago. I didn't want to fight in the war at all, to be honest. I felt great affinity to Rose and her connection with nature. I love the sealife, myself, and thought she was a kindred spirit. But my heart was with the Homeworld. In the end, I was caught in the middle of a battle."

"So they stuck you in there as punishment?" Jasper asked, expression curious.

"No. Rose's armies weren't that cruel."

"Go mom!"

"I was hurt in the battle pretty severely. My gem was damaged as I was caught in a crossfire incident. A massive gem against a massive gem and I just happened to be in the middle of something I didn't want to fight in." She looked away, face pained. "I guess they thought I'd died or was too damaged to reform ever again. My gem was rare and powerful, and therefore, I guess they decided to use it to power a tool if I was supposedly dead."

"So, they trapped you in the mirror!" Steven grinned. "And then we found you!"

"Yes. I was stuck in there for a very long time. I was so… Angry they never tried to revive me."

"I think they just forgot." Steven blinked, drawing back his marshmallow and blowing on it to make it cool down. "Pearl and the others were really surprised when they found out you could talk to me. I guess they first thought you were another corrupt gem and got scared you'd hurt me. They never meant any harm."

Lapis blinked, surprised. "Oh. That… Makes sense."

"Yeah. But I could see why you'd be annoyed and upset. I wouldn't like to be stuck anywhere for that long."

"Beats being buried in the earth and spending your first few years as a guinea pig for Homeworld." Jasper stuffed her burning marshmallow directly into her mouth, just as Steven was. Except hers was literally on shrugged. "Toasty."

"Jasper… What did they do to you?" Peridot tilted her head. "You never really talked about it much and now that I've seen kindergarten for myself, I… Guess I'm kind of curious."

"My gem is a shard. It was a successful cluster-based experiment. I was the first of my kind." She replied. "I don't remember much of what I used to be. Some kind of crushed up criminal smashed with another, most likely. They forced me stuck together and buried me in the ground to germinate. It was hell, but I grew and formed until they found me. They couldn't believe I was even a thing. I guess it was all a prototype to the creation of gems like you, Peri. This was before we knew how to make 'em ourselves, you see. They called me a miracle at first. Then a monster that wasn't meant to be alive."

"That would explain your size. You're technically a fusion, aren't you?" Peridot grimaced, attempting to eat the marshmallow.

"Yeah." She gave a low sigh, a near snarl. "They wanted to explore every bit of what made me tick. They did all sorts of things to me and my body, all kinds of nasty tests and awful experiments. I can tell you, my body's been ripped apart and forced to regenerate way too many times to count."

Steven curled up a little. Feeling upset for the gem. This would explain why she was angry so much. Was she still hurt? "Sorry it happened to you, Jasper."

He received a playful punch to his shoulder. "Eh, I've gone through worse since, lil' man. They discovered I was a fighting machine and made me a warrior, and then the good life came. No one respected me at first, and then I showed them all what I was made of. I went from being a lowlife to a killing machine in a matter of a century, and I fight for the name of Yellow Diamond because of that. It's all because of her I was able to prove my worth."

"Huh." Peridot nodded. "Still. That's actually quite tragic."

"Alright, then. What's your godawful backstory?" Jasper threw a fresh marshmallow out of the packet and hit Peridot's face. "Spill it. We've all told ours."

"There's really not much to it."

"Awh, come on!" Steven grinned. "I wanna find out!"

"I must say, I am intrigued." Lapis nudged at her. "Homeworld's synthetic gems are something else."

"Fine." She crossed her arms and looked away. "There's not much to it. Peridots are cheap and easy to make. We're good scouts. Crappy warriors, but smart and quickly built. Homeworld is picky, though. So, from the day I was made, I had to constantly prove myself better than the others to stay alive. Since resources are low, they don't have time for time wasters. So, they kill everyone not up to scratch or if you fail their tests. Pretty brutal. But, you show your capabilities and you're fine."

"Oh yeah? And how'd you do that?" Jasper quirked a brow.

"I was going to get killed. I hadn't managed anything special and my specification on the Earth sector wasn't really relevant enough to keep me afloat. So, in a last ditch attempt I sent out a Red Eye to see if I could find anything interesting on the Cluster. It didn't come back, and I suddenly got a job to follow it up. You silly clods kept screwing my things around, and here we are." She threw the marshmallow that had hit her at Steven. The boy chuckled as he dodged it.

"You know. You guys really are kinda cool." He grinned. "Really cool."

 **A/N: STEVEN BOMB 3 ENDED AND MANY OF MY HEADCANONS ARE CONFIRMED. YES. GOOD.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty One- The Music or the Misery**

Greg hadn't seen Steven for about a week, and was beginning to grow anxious that the gems would accuse him of abandonment once more. He couldn't help the fact that he was a busy man. The car wash was a hearty business that took a lot out of him. Still, with their possessiveness over the boy, he had to set aside some time for Steven, regardless. Especially now that the weird Homeworld gems were running about. He sighed as he came closer to the house, sand burying inbetween his toes.

The last thing the planet needed was another war.

He saw some figures on the beachside closer to the house and slowly paced in that direction. It was the space he often found his child playing in. As he drew nearer, he slowed down. Yes, Steven was certainly there.

But so were the new gems the others had told him to be afraid of. Even the blue one who'd trashed his car was there.

They were all curled up in a big sleeping pile. Steven rested in the arms of the massive one, nuzzling against her chest. His heart pounded as he inched closer. The green one he had spoken to a couple of times since she'd become prisoner. She had seemingly fallen asleep on top of Jasper's butt, mouth open as she snored. Greg couldn't fathom how the outstretched gem could ever be comfortable.

Lapis had her arm around Steven, closest to the now burnt out pile of driftwood. They all looked so at peace, so comfortable. Supplies for s'mores were discarded around them. He picked up a half empty packet of marshmallows as he tiptoed closer.

He stopped as Jasper's eye blinked open. Staring him down like a wild tigress. Her hands curled over Steven, as if to protect the boy. Greg looked around, stepping back and holding his arms out. He gave a quick, frantic whisper. "Whoah, chill! I was looking for Steven. I'm his dad!"

She looked at the boy and then at his father and gave a small nod, letting the child go as he mumbled something in sleep. She stood up and stretched, sand cascading off her body. Greg's eyes marvelled over her muscled form. Another giant woman. "I oughtta do that more often." She said as she shook sand out of her hair. "What do you want?"

"Oh. Well. Uhm, I sometimes like to spend time with him and there's some of the heavier stuff to move from the garage so I thought I could get him to help me out."

There was a husk to her voice, a grainy one. "I regret to inform you that the tiny Quartz is currently recharging his inner batteries and will remain unfunctional for the time being."

"Yeah, I get that he's asleep." He nodded, getting down on his knees and patting Steven's hair. "You keep dreaming, bud. Don't let me stop 'ya. What happened out here? You guys decided to camp out?"

"Yeah, we were bored and threw a fire together last night. Stayed up to see the gas ball rise but then the kid started to get all slow and tired and said he needed sleep, so we decided to try and join him."

"I can see that." Greg chuckled. "You can tell he's half rock, he sure sleeps like one. Well, I guess I'll leave him to it. If he stayed awake till dawn, he's going to sleep way past through the day. Don't let him turn into a night owl, will you? I guess I'll be off, then. See if I can fix up the old storage on my own."

He turned around, but stopped as Jasper spoke out again. "I could help you."

Greg rubbed at his neck, awkwardly. He twisted to face her. "Uh, you could? I thought they were keeping you prisoner over here."

"Eh. I'm sure you can pass as my escort." She leaned over and kicked at Peridot. "Ay-yo. Peri. I'm heading out to help this human with his tasks. He says he's the Quartz-kid's dad. Tell Garnet that I'm fine and Birdface to chill."

Peridot grunted and nodded in her dreamy state. "Her name isn't Birdface, you buffoon. Fine."

"Well, that's got me covered. Come on, Rose Quartz mate. Let's do this."

…

The former sort of rockstar couldn't really believe it. With Jasper's help, he'd managed to finish a job that even Pearl had previously laboured over for a few days done in a matter of hours. Granted, he knew he'd mess it up again, but he wasn't going to think about that for now.

"That was easy." Jasper said, slouching down. Greg had given her permission to rummage through to see if there was anything she wanted to keep. Of course, the beach-hunk shirt was a definite must. He was going to be sad to see it go, but one couldn't deny that the thing had literally been made for her.

"Hell yeah! And you got that busted stereo system down from the roof. I thought that was gonna be hard."

She kissed her pecks. "Anything's possible when you've got babies like these."

He laughed, picking up some of his old band merchandise off the floor and placing it into a box. He noticed Jasper's yellow eyes spying on him once more. He realised he was holding one of his old posters.

"Looks like a young and pretty version of you."

"That's because it is." He replied, tone dropping in cheer as he folded it away. "I was a musician back in the day. Gave it up a while ago but I sometimes still have fun. You into any kind of music? Well, I don't suppose you really know much about our Earth stuff."

"I was a part of the galactic choir. We sang our battle anthem as we marched into the faces of evil. That was pretty spectacular. I won't lie, I do miss it. We had the best harmonies going."

"Huh." He nodded, picking up a guitar and fiddling with the tuning pegs. "So, you must have a pretty darn good pair of lungs on you."

"Depends on who's listening."

"Well. There's a little thing I've been invited to play at down at the beach. Just a small gig to end the Summer festivities, you know. Like a farewell party to whatever guests are still stuck around. If you're in the mood to show the people of Earth what your home planet has to offer for music… I'm your guy."


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter Thirty Two- It's How I Felt When I First Met Her.**

Lapis sat upon the couch. She desperately wished to spend time with Steven. He was her only real lifeline in this awful place. The only one to show her affection and kindness with no alterior motive.

But she was there. That Connie. Monopolising his time.

She wanted to have no ill feelings towards the girl. However, it just happened to be an unfortunate fact that the very instant she found the courage to push away her anxieties and get over her delusions that Connie just happened to be there.

Steven helped Lapis feel empowered. Something the gem desired above all else, but yet, had been severely forced away from for centuries. She needed the strength to keep away the dark thoughts looming in her head.

The darkness.

It was a cloud, a barrier from sanity and the real world. She would lapse into it. All feeling would drain away and she'd be numb. Her body and mind just stopped connecting.

And then the voices started.

Oh, God. The voices. They screamed at her. The voices of old friends, old mistresses. They spoke her worst fears, mocked her. Torment, constant torment.

But Steven helped her get through that. He never left her side, even when she'd hurt him without meaning to.

She needed to get rid of Connie. The girl had to go. She needed Steven for herself.

She wanted him.

…

"Parry! Thrust! Parry!" The apparition screeched, jabbing at Peridot.

The green gem easily outmanouvered the red-eyed version of Pearl, sliding on the ground before doing a barrel roll to get to its back. The fencing partner had no time to move before Peridot's wooden sword had sliced through the apparition, causing it to flicker.

Peridot didn't, however, expect the sting of a blade wrap around her neck. Pearl's hot breath laid on her shoulder as her master had caught her off guard. She was in too tight of a spot to dip down, and the warning angle of the sword digging into her flesh made her too anxious to kick back at the other. She slunk her body in defeat, Pearl giggling behind her. "Looks like I beat you again."

"It's no fair!" Peridot flushed. "You're far more experienced than me! You're going to win every time."

Pearl released her and drew the sword away, summoning back the fallen version of herself back into her gem. "Now, now. There's no need to be upset. Though, I must admit, I do tend to get too far into things when I practise."

"You don't give me a chance!"

She frowned. "Peridot. Don't be immature. Your real enemies will never offer you a chance."

Peridot growled as she kicked the ground in frustration. "It's not just that! We… We did things and… You act like it never happened. You just carry on as normal, and how am I meant to feel?"

The pale gem's eyes wandered over the other's face. "Peridot? What? I don't… Understand."

"I don't know how to deal with Earth emotions! I don't know what I'm meant to do when there's no directive. I'm disobeying everything I've ever known and I'm just meant to act like everything is normal. It's hard and… And I'm just so young compared to you all and… I don't know and…"

"Young?"

"Y-Yeah." She replied, awkwardly. "You never knew? I guess you didn't. We started mass producing gems, and while the streaming system means only the elite few can actually survive, we're born daily."

"Daily? That's impossible! It takes years and years to cultivate a gem!" Pearl looked aghast. "It's no wonder you can't sustain yourselves! You're clearly going to be overpopulated with that rate! Peridot… When… What?"

"I was born and cast with an adult body and they taught me to respond to directive with adult thoughts but… Outside of that, I'm… I'm a newborn compared to all of you. You've been around for centuries without directive. I… The stop on earth was the first time I was doing anything outside of Homeworld's control. All my past feelings were truly to favour Homeworld."

"Oh, Peridot… I'm so sorry."

"I don't need your pity!" She snapped, and then looked away. "Well. Yeah. I do. But… How do we do this? How do we deal with these feelings? How am I supposed to… To comprehend my feelings for you?"

Pearl blinked. "What feelings? I thought… We were… Well. I have no idea what we are anymore."

"Oh, for the sake of Yellow Diamond! We danced! We even had a whole musical number about it!"

The taller gem shuffled on her feet, drawing her arms behind her back. "Yes, but that's something we, as gems, do. Even when I don't have the closest relationship to Amethyst, we still dance to form Opal."

"Is that what it means to you? That was nothing?" Peridot shook. "W-What I said? It… It didn't mean anything at all?"

"No!" She replied, hasty. Why was the green gem so upset? "It… It made me confused. You… You don't know what Rose was to me. You could never know. To say you want to be what she was to me is… Impossible for you to understand."

"It is not! Pearl! I want… I want you." She gripped at her own shoulders, tears starting to fall her face. "I feel jealous every time you talk about her. About how you feel and what she made you feel. When I saw you dance with her, yes, I'm sorry I saw it, but… I wanted to share that with you, too."

"Then why didn't you fuse with me?"

"Because… B-Because it's wrong! It's disgusting! That's all I have left of Homeworld. The belief that fusion is grim and the worst kind of sin we can commit. I… I was created to have loyalty and that's it. That belief… That belief is all I have left. There's nothing I can replace it with. I mean, I tried to replace it with my faith in you, but… You rejected…. You ignored me."

"Peridot… I only ignored what you were saying because I thought you were… Ignorant of those kinds of feelings."

"And maybe I am." She sunk to her knees, cradling her body. "I don't know what I'm feeling. It's foreign. Like this burning desire to be with you. The need to spend time with you. I just want to see you and feel you and say hello to you. I don't have a home anymore… Because you're like home to me, Pearl. You're so… So different to the other Pearls at home."

"I don't wish to be your exotic fetish." She sniffed.

"No. That's not what I mean. What I'm saying is that… I never found myself speaking to them. They never gave me your touch, or the kind of attention you do. I don't want anyone else. I don't even want to go back, even if they'd take me. Jasper would smash me to pieces if she knew, but… I want to be here because you're all I want now."

"Peridot… Are you in love with me?"

Pearl's hand rested on Peridot's cheek. She had leaned down to join the other on the ground.

The green gem's voice was distant. "I don't understand."

"No one understands love. But love understands us. And… I guess I was wrong. From what you're saying… You feel exactly what I felt towards her. I'm… I'm sorry. I just… Need to process this. I'm weak. I'm a Pearl. I'm nothing that she ever was and ever will be. Why? How could anyone feel that kind of admiration towards me?"

"I don't know." She replied. "I guess I just do. And no matter how much I push it away, I can't stop it. I can't fight it. It's like an incurable disease. But it's not a disease because it feels…"

"It feels right."

"Yeah."

Peridot couldn't quite remember who or what had begun their kiss. But all she knew is that her eyes were closed and she could suddenly taste Pearl.

They kissed and kissed and kissed. Desperate. Needy.

Something felt like it had finally clicked into place. Like cogs were finally turning. Her hands roamed the other's physical form. She realised she was panting as they withdrew, a trail connecting them of saliva. It was carnal. Pure instinct, but it made no sense and somehow all sense.

Peridot's darker eyes gazed into those diluted baby blue. They stayed silent. Both trying to work out what was happening. The Homeworld gem finally spoke.

"I guess you were right. I don't know what we are anymore, either."


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter Thirty Three- The Sharks Will Get you if you Bleed**

Steven appeared to like resting on Jasper. Something about her entire mass seemed to be a wholesome source of comfort, and he often nuzzled into her a lot. Jasper appeared to be both confused and touched by this, and didn't exactly comment. Like a crocodile with a dentist bird, she simply lay there with him and let the boy do his thing.

She had only closed her eyes for a few minutes. They'd watched on the television what the child described as an earth 'classic' of a film. Something about a stupid man and someone stupider. Jasper had enjoyed the slapstick immensely.

Her eyes snapped open the second cool flesh breezed against her neck. Lapis. The blue gem was straddling her.

"Lapis?" She blinked. What was going on? Her eyes fixed onto the boy who mumbled something in his sleep. "Get off me. You're going to wake him up."

"Oh, don't worry." Lapis gave a smile. A cruel smile. There was definetly something wrong. "He won't. I'm going to be quiet. Whether or not he wakes up and catches us is up to you, Jasper."

"Catches us doing what?"

Jasper gritted her teeth as the blue gem's fingers raked her flesh. "I want to feel powerful again. It was torture, oh, but being Malachite made me feel… Like I wasn't alone. You're… Addictive, Jasper. I hate you, but I love being with you. I want to do it again."

"Please. Stop." The larger gem groaned. "I never want to be that… Thing with you again."

"Do you think I enjoyed it because of your delightful company? No, Jasper. No matter what you do, we're never going to be friends. But at least I can use you to have the feelings I'm never going to have otherwise."

"Lapis." She gave a hushed shout. "This is wrong. There's something wrong with you. You need to stop."

She froze when Lapis kissed the bridge of her nose. Shivering. "I don't care. I'm tired of seeing those two together. I was alone for so, so long. I want to be together with something. I don't want to be alone anymore."

She tried to struggle away, but Lapis' legs wrapped around her waist. Hard. "Then do it with him! Actually, don't. You're unstable, Lapis. You need help. You can't do this! You're going to hurt both of us."

Lapis froze. Detangling herself from Jasper's form. "Oh. Oh no. Oh no what am I doing? You're right. This is disgusting."

"L-Lapis?" Jasper grunted, finally managing off the couch and throwing a blanket draped over the back of the sofa over the sleeping boy. The blue gem had curled into a ball on the floor, thin limbs placed over one another as she rocked backwards and forwards. "Lapis. You need to tell me what's happening with you."

"Please… Don't… I'm going to lose control again and do bad things to you. And to everyone."

"You're not. I won't let you." She said, voice forceful. "What's brought this on? I know you're… All mixed up from our detour in the sea, but you're safe now. I'm safe. You should be happy."

"I should be but I'm not. I just get sad from nothing and I don't wanna do anything at all." She replied. Voice breaking. "I keep wanting to talk to Steven but I get so worried I'm annoying him and I just can't and when I finally can, he's with her."

"The girl?"

"Yes. That girl. I want to have no ill will to her. She doesn't know what she's doing or how she makes me feel. I've barely even spoken to her, but she's with him when I need him."

"Not gonna lie, that's kind of selfish."

"I know. But I'm a royal gem! I should have access to him and be his number one companion, but he has all these other companions, and they're all below me."

"It's because he's a Quartz, isn't it?" Jasper sighed, rubbing a large hand on Lapis' back. "You're going to be naturally drawn to him. He's what was ruling class back with the old caste."

"Exactly! And he spends all his time and takes all advice from… From humans! They don't even fit onto the system."

"He is half human. Even I know that now." She replied, sighing. "You ain't adjusting to anything, are you? Even if I take you back home, you're going to feel sick."

"I felt sick. I felt like I needed to die. Because nothing was familiar to me anymore." She curled even tighter. "I have no home where I belong anymore. I don't want to be here. I don't want to be there. I don't want… I don't want to exist."

"But we want you."

"It's not the same!" She looked up, face puffy from crying. "I-I can't. I just don't want to live anymore. Don't you get it?"

"Lapis…"

"Nothing can help me. No one can! I am doomed to forever be in this… This state and decay in this body. I'm a part of the past. A bit of history that's no longer relevant to anything."

Jasper couldn't say anything. She wasn't good with words. She looked at the other gem, pleadingly. "Please. Don't say… That."

"Don't say what? Am I meant to just hide everything? Push it all down until I turn even more insane? I hate it. I hate myself and this world and everything."

"We can… We can help you."

"You can't. No one can."

…

Garnet couldn't move.

She had been in her room to check up on the bubbles.

And then the path to the future became clear.

She was stuck in place.

"They need to go." She said, firmly.

"They can't. They're here, seeking refuge. They need our support."

"You saw what that fleet looked like, Sapphire."

"I know. I know and I am scared. But… It's not their fault. Even if we force them to leave, all I can see is Homeworld coming to get us."

"They're not going to help! They're still loyal to the Homeworld and when they find out, they're gonna attack us. They know all our weaknesses now! Where we are, what we do. We're screwed!"

"Ruby. We need to calm down."

She began to shake. "Calm down? Calm down! We're about to see an invasion bigger than the Goddamn war and you want me to calm down? People are going to die, Sapphire. We're going to die!"

"Ruby-"

There was a bright light as Garnet split, revealing the two gems. Ruby was trembling, eyes wide and scared. "They need to leave us. We need to get ready for this. We… We…"

"We need their help. We are going to require all the assistance we can possibly get our hands on."

"Do you even know when they're going to make it here?" Ruby pleaded, clutching at her lover's dress.

Sapphire stood still.

"No. I have no sight of such things. But we… We're going to feel it soon. Homeworld's wrath is going to be like no other. And we need to make all the preparations we can."


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34: Busted**

"Oh, Peridot. You're back." Jasper said, munching cereal straight out of its packet. No milk. Just hardcore, dry cereal. Steven was watching her, mouth open in wonder. "Hard time training?"

"Yeah, you could say that." She walked off the warp pad, limping a little.

"Whoah, what happened to your neck?" Steven gazed up. Peridot looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. "You're got little bruises all over it. Oh, man. I've gotta talk to Pearl about overtraining her friends again."

"N-No! I'm fine oh gosh please don't mention them, I, uh, I'm fine. I am COMPLETELY fine." She began to mumble, flustered.

It was just then that Garnet reappeared from the kitchen and placed an omelette in front of Steven. "Breakfast. Eat up." She nodded to him and proceeded to push Peridot into the bathroom, completely deadpan.

"Garnet. Uh. I'm… Why d-did you push me in here? This is a human waste management facility." She then quirked a very concerned brow. "Why are you smiling like that? Has something possessed you?"

"You and Pearl."

"Oh for the sake of Yellow Diamond."

"Pearl and you."

She looked away, rubbing at her sore neck. "Yes. Things happened. That was an interesting side to her I didn't know existed. I plead you to not put me into a position in which I am to sit down for the next few hours. As good as her discipline felt back on the training field, it is regrettably obvious that I was flipped over and… Uh, banged sideways, as the human term goes."

Garnet let out the strangest squeal. An 'eeeeee' noise, to be precise.

"Is… Using whips a normal thing of intercourse?"

"I'll provide you with some resources to take a gander at in private. The human ideals of sexuality and mating are… Unorthodox." She replied, her cheer began to fade a little. "You were… Comfortable with what she did, right?"

"Uh… I guess so." The green gem looked like a lost lamb. A lost, thoroughly dishevelled lamb.

"It's important to tell the truth. Relationships are built on that."

"Well…" She pressed an awkward hand behind her shoulder. "It was… She was very eager. I kind of wanted it to be a little slower so I could understand what was going on, but one moment we were kissing and the next I had a collar on and she was calling me names. It was very, uh, arousing, but…"

"I'll talk to her."

"You really could? Because I don't want her to stop but I don't know how to ask."

"You need to have a conversation." She then stopped and straightened her glasses. "Alright, now. You have to make sure there's little evidence of your exploits. We, gems, won't care as long as you two keep it hidden from Steven. Greg's yet to have a… Talk about that aspect of relationships with him. Just keep it hidden from him, alright? If you have anything else you need to talk about, I'm here."

"Thank you." She nodded, awkwardly shuffling.

"Don't forget to regenerate something for your neck." She replied, nodding as she stepped out. It looked as if it was going to be a normal day. Amethyst was most likely asleep on one of her various piles of collected items (most colloquially known to the others aside from Steven as 'junk') and Lapis appeared to be taking another extended rest. Garnet could feel something amiss with her, but decided to let her be for now. It was obvious that the Homeworld gems were still healing and recovering from all that had happened, and the fusion knew that it was best to just leave them to it and not press support too hard.

Pearl appeared into the living room. Hair uncharacteristically dishevelled. Garnet waltzed over and smoothened it out for her before she opened her mouth to say hello to Steven. "Outside. Five minutes."

The pale gem grew even paler and gave a shaky nod before returning to her salutations. "Steven. I received a call from the Maheswaran household. Connie's mother was wondering whether you'd like to visit the sea museum that opened up in their part of the town."

"Oh!" He jumped up from the couch. "Did you say yes?"

"I figured since you didn't appear to have any plans that you'd be willing to go." She nodded, pacing over and nodding at Jasper. "They'll be here to pick you up at lunchtime."

"Since you're all, uh, here." The orange gem said, looking around and gaining the attention of the others. "I kinda have a… Gig thing with the lil' warrior's sperm donor."

"His name is Greg!" Pearl held her hands over Steven's ears. "And… What?"

"Yeah. It's kind of a thing we've been working on. He, uh, let me express myself on his musical stuff. I'm kinda getting there on that bass of his. And he's helped me write a song as an outlet to my current emotions."

"This I have to see." Garnet said after a few moments of stunned quiet from the others.

"I can't believe you didn't try and murder him." Pearl blinked.

"Nah, he's alright. We're pretty tight for someone I only just met a couple of weeks ago. We talk about Rose Quartz a lot and he's a pretty good teacher."

"I could tell you things about Rose Quartz." Pearl's cheeks were tinted, her arms crossed.

Jasper raised a brow. "Yeah. I heard. I'd rather not. Well, whatever, but… It'd mean a lot if you guys maybe, uh, came to see the show. We worked kinda hard on it. I mean, you don't have to but… I'd appreciate it."

"Jasper, of course we would!" Steven grinned. "I'll make sure all my friends come and watch it too, okay? They come and watch me and dad play all the time!"

"Dad and I." Pearl ruffled his hair, correcting him. "But, yes. To corraborate with Garnet, I'd much like to see this, too. No. It's something I have to see."

Jasper grunted. "You'd better not be taking the piss out of this."

"We're not." Garnet allowed a smile. "We're proud of you for making friends. Really. Now, come on, Pearl. I want to talk to you outside."

Pearl's stomach turned as Garnet forced her to her usual smoking spot. The air was terribly still, especially for the coast. It made her even more nervous. What did Garnet wish to speak about? Why was she flickering between that smile and frown? Her gaze drifted over to the ocean, watching the waves gently stroll into the shore. She wanted to be down there.

"Pearl."

"Yes, Garnet?"

"Please do not take this as me impeding on your personal matters. Tell me if I'm prying too close, but… Are you really in a good place to develop this with Peridot."

She coughed, her face aghast. So, Garnet knew? Of course Garnet knew. Garnet probably knew they'd had emotional buildup before the two knew about it. She frowned. "I… I… I don't know."

"I know it's hard to let go of the past. It's good you're trying to move on, if that's what you're doing. But I beg of you not to make Peridot your replacement of Rose. I remember you coming to me for advice before and I know how much you felt for her."

"I don't want to talk about my past feelings." She snapped. She respected the other, but shame burnt at her cheeks. "What I'm doing is finally being normal. Do you have to criticise that?"

"Having sex doesn't make you normal. You can be perfectly fine without it. What isn't normal is taking advantage of your partner's naivety and using it for your own power."

"I'm… I…"

"Pearl. I am happy for you. I really am. But Peridot has a lot of feelings for you and she's very naive about them. I can tell. She doesn't know what she wants aside from being with you. Please, if you're going to do this with her, at least make sure you reciprocate that love with her."

"I don't know how I feel about her." She sighed, drawing a cigarette out, ignoring Garnet's disapproval. "She's my intellectual equal. My only resource to back home. I don't know if I'm just using her for what I want."

"Then, are you? Because if anything, that's what I'm going to disapprove of the most." She turned serious as Pearl lit the end of the cigarette. "You have a history of using others, Pearl. You can't let yourself do that to her."

"I know." She sighed. "I think I do like her. I really, really do. I'm just… Processing things."

"Then take it slow." She patted the pale gem's shoulder. "Take her out on a date, or something. I know you two spend time training a lot, but take it easy. You need this to be a conversation. For it to build."

"Alright." She nodded, slowly. "Yeah. That's… That's a good idea, Garnet. Thank you."

"I just don't want either of you to get hurt. None of you deserve that."


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter Thirty Five-Sea Salt Ice Cream**

Jasper had already left earlier to help set up for the concert. The hour was ticking to nine at night, and the residents of the temple were becoming more and more excited by the prospect of Jasper performing on stage. No, really. What in the everloving world could Jasper of all gems have in store. The same hunk of rock who'd so ruthlessly tried to kidnap the Crystal Gems back to homeworld.

Pearl came out of the kitchen with two carrier bags of popcorn, the aroma of the freshly popped kernels still in the air. "That's all our snacks packed up!" She fiddled with the bottoms of her creamy jumper. The winter season was beginning to set in, and Beach City's evenings were beginning to grow colder. "Steven, I trust you have your layers on."

"Do I have to wear thermal socks?" He pleaded, struggling to shove his boots on.

"We don't want another sickness scare." She tapped the bridge of his nose and earnt a swift hug from the boy. She realised Peridot and Lapis were watching them from the staircase. Each had been donated a scarf and pair of earmuffs respectively. "You two ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Lapis offered a gentle smile.

Peridot shuffled her feet on the floor, awkwardly. "Yes. You look… Uh. Pleasant in that getup."

Pearl cocked a brow and realised the other was attempting to offer a compliment. After Garnet's call out, the two had somewhat grown a little uneasy around oneanother. The pale gem felt distressed by the thought of hurting her. This had clearly upset the other gem, but she seemed to be too cowardly to face the issue head on.

In the end, they barely really talked after their initial romp. Both wanted to say words that they simply didn't have, and a week or two had passed with this awkwardness.

She finally offered a smile back. "Thank you, Peridot." Before calling for the other two remaining gems. Amethyst appeared, sporting her usual outwear. It appeared she didn't care enough to really dress for the occasion.

"I wonder what's taking Garnet so long." Steven pressed his hand to his chin.

"You'd think she would be the first one here. She's never late to these things." Pearl replied, concern in her tone. "I'll go and-"

She was interrupted as the door opened, and the aforementioned fusion stepped out. Except Garnet wasn't a fusion. Ruby paced out, a frown firmly planted on her face. Steven ran up to her, face flickering between extreme excitement and worry. "Ruby! Hi! I can't believe you're here! What? Where's Sapphire?"

Ruby glanced up and him and mumbled something along the lines of 'worried' and 'in the room'. Pearl swiftly followed Steven's suit and found herself confronting the red gem. "Gar- Ruby? You split? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, yeah." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Everything is just fine. Saph's just being a worry-wart. Said she doesn't want me to see what's coming up one moment and the next, keeps telling me to stay. We promised we'd be there and there's no way in hell that I'm missing Jasper's singalong."

"I… See." She glanced over at Steven and then back to the smaller gem. "Are you sure everything is alright?"

"It'll be just fine." The other snapped, the floor singeing below her stance. "Let's go already. She said she'll be out in a sec."

"You guys start heading over to the beach, alright?" Pearl threw her glance over to the Homeworld gems. "I'll make sure everything's all okay in here and join you with Sapphire."

"I said everything is fine." Ruby huffed. "She's just being melodramatic."

"Ruby, come on." Steven grinned at her, passing her one of the bags with popcorn in it. "We'll have lots of fun down at the beach, alright?"

Ruby gave a pout before begrudgingly slinging the bag over her shoulder and nodding to the other. "Alright. Come on, you two. Let's bust this popsickle stand."

The dancer gem watched the group leave, and then flicked her gaze over to the temple door. She carefully paced over and knocked. "Sapphire? Is everything alright?"

"She's not listening to me."

"Can I come in? I have no idea what's going on." The door opened, allowing her access to Garnet's space. "Sapphire? Can I help somehow? You two hardly ever get separated. Did something happen?" She made her way in to a colder section of the room, gazing over the more dangerous areas of the temple. She finally saw Sapphire's delicate form tucked away in the corner, where frost had begun to form.

"I can't stop her."

"Sapphire? What's happening?" There was definetly something wrong. Her stomach turned.

"I… I." Pearl gasped as she heard Sapphire's voice tremble. The small gem wasn't one of many words, let alone expressed emotion. She had been crying. Whatever was happening, it was serious. "I keep seeing bad things. Nothing I can fixate on is letting me see a good future. I need to get her safe but she's angry because I-I didn't want her to see what I was looking into anymore."

"Sapphire?" Pearl quickly wrapped her arms around the blue gem's form. "Shh. You need to explain what's happened."

"I-I… Alright." A nod. "We began seeing the future of Homeworld attacking us."

Pearl's jaw dropped, and she then looked away. "I guess it was inevitable."

"No, you don't understand. A large scale invasion. People dying, no matter where I looked. Ruby… Ruby thought we needed to get rid of the Homeworld gems, but then you and Peridot started getting together, and… Then I thought Jasper and Lapis were okay. But she wouldn't listen and we started getting into more and more arguments about it."

"Oh… Oh no."

"Yes. The visions began to get more chaotic. With… You guys dying as well. I couldn't bare let Ruby see any more of it. So, I… I made us separate just a couple of days ago. And this morning, I… I saw it. She's in danger. She can't go and watch that show."

"But… You can change things, right? Not every sight is a defined outcome."

"Every… Every sight shows the same thing."

…

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Dewey stood at the edge of the stage with a megaphone in hand. "I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the citizens who voted me in. Because of your contributions, I was able to run this event-"

He was momentarily stopped as a sudden wave from the ocean morphed and whacked him in the face. The audience cheered.

"Lapis! You can't hurt him! That's mean!"

The blue gem shrugged. "I was getting tired of his self-promotion after every act. I guess you could say it was… Dripping with bad taste."

"We apologise for that minor natural freak phenomena." Dewey stood up, soaked head to toe. "Our next act comes from Beach City's finest car wash. Finest, because I donated to it! Yes, ladies and gentlemen. A vote for me is a vote for clean vehicles! I, with great mayoral honour, present to you, ' _Guitar Dad and Jumbo Space Mama from Intergalactic Rock Doom'._ "

Amethyst bumped Steven's shoulder. "Five bucks says your old man came up with the name."

"I don't know." Peridot crossed her arms. "Intergalactic Rock Doom? That's got Jasper written all over it."

"I like to think it was a group effort." The boy chuckled. "Oh! Look! Here they are!"

Capes. Jasper and Greg were wearing matching capes.

"Oh my God." Amethyst had to bury her face in her hands to contain her laughter.

"What in the name of yellow diamond am I looking at?" Peridot shrunk into her seat, violently afraid.

"I will never unsee this." Ruby's face switched between intrigued and somewhat disgusted.

"It's a fashion disaster the cosmos never deserved to witness." Lapis' voice was a gasp.

"Yeah. I can't even answer to this." Steven's expression was bordering on horrified.

Thigh high boots with lace. On both of them. Greg wore a peaked cap and resembled somewhat of a strange fetishist stripper from a gay 'bear' magazine. He even had a butch leather jacket and handcuffs dangling off the side of his ripped jean pockets.

Jasper, on the other hand, was a completely different ball game. She was adorned with some sort of corset. 'Sort of' as it was fluorescent pink and had little skulls and crossbones. Except the skulls and crossbones were actually tiny kitten skulls with teensy-weensy pink bows. Her entire face was coated in what appeared to be full-on gothic makeup. The stuff which Hot Topic teenagers could only dream of. However, it was surprisingly well applied. It seemed Jasper had either a natural knack for the stuff, or she'd been intensely practising.

"Uh, hey. I'm Greg. But you can call me Guitar Dad for tonight. And we've prepared an… Original set."

A voice from the crowd. Sour Cream. "You go, non-conformist parents! You guys rock!"

The crowd went wild.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter Thirty Six- Lullabies of the Storm**

Greg's fingers slipped over the frets of his guitars as he fingered a melody and then roughly strummed down. He nodded over to Jasper who was playing at her bass, who then awkwardly shuffled her large form nearer to the microphone.

 _"This place_

 _This place is so drab._

 _Where I come from,_

 _Earth seems kinda sad."_

There was a strange semblance of sorrow in the tune, a sombre hint to Jasper's song. Her voice was… Different. It had her masculine hint, that small dip in pitch that just screamed testosterone. However, as she swiftly flicked her hair back, there was something very feminine about the sway of her hips. The way she ambled over her lyrics.

 _"I know_

 _I know you're blue_

 _Your sorrow_

 _It reigns true."_

It was then that Greg's fingers flicked over the strings, melody amping up in speed and volume as the background drums kicked in. The crowd began to cheer. It was a fucking ballad. Jasper was on stage, performing a rock ballad.

 _"But if you take my hand,_

 _No, not the space one_

 _But join my band,_

 _Of space warriors!_

 _We can reign true…_

 _I will prove it to you!"_

A sudden shift in pitch indicated that the song was suddenly taking on a far more… dramatic turn. It was then that Jasper began to wildly thrash about as Greg was losing it over his guitar. The chord to it spun around like an umbilical cord of a pregnant woman going through a loop-de-loop on a rollercoaster while simultaneously giving birth.

Jasper was literally doing screamo.

No one could look away.

 _"WE WILL BURN OUR ENEMIES_

 _WATCH THEM BLEEED TO DEEEEATH_

 _AND THEN WE WILL BE SUPER COOL_

 _AND FEED RABBITS OF THE EARTH KIND_

 ** _IT WILL BE AWESOOOOME_**

 _LISTEN HERE YOU PIECES OF SHIT_

 _MY NAME IS JASPER AND I'LL_

 _MAKE YOU SHIT A BRICK_

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_

 _OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_

 _UGHDGDHDTRHDHDHFH_

 _JAJAJJAJHAAAAAAAAAAAA_

 _FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU_

 _STOOOP BEING MISERABLE_

 _I'LL SLAP YOU IN THE FACE_

 _AND THEN MAKE YOU LICK MY NOSE_

 _WHICH IS A ROCK_

 _AND IT…_

 _WILL BE_

 _DELICIOUS!_

 _EVERYONE YOU CARE ABOUT_

 _WILL DIEEEEEE_

 _AND YOUUUU_

 _WILLL CRYYYYYYYYYY!_

 _BUT IIIIIII_

 _WILLLLLL_

 _BE THERE FOR YOU TO CRYYYYYYY_

 _ON. FUUUUUUCK. YEAAAAAAAAAH."_

She was playing her bass so fast that it was catching on fire. It then literally blew up, causing the stage to set alight, somewhat.

"This cannot be real." Peridot whispered. The rest of the crowd turned to glare at her with fingers over her lips.

Jasper was on her knees, steam wafting as she shredded the remanants that bass. No one even knew basses could be shredded, but she was making it work. She then finished as Greg looked like he was about to faint over his own guitar, the stage still on fire. Mayor Dewey was attempting to corral up the flames with an extinguisher.

At last, it was over. Jasper held up the bits that were still connected by the strings over her head, triumphant. "That song was called 'a poem about my feelings'. I wrote it for my good friend, Lapis. I hope you feel better soon."

There was a deafening noise as the crowd cheered and clapped, screaming for an encore. Especially the teenager group, who then promptly sat down. Steven could hear Sour Cream sigh. "Looks like they became too mainstream for us."

Amethyst turned around as she felt a finger on her shoulder. She twisted around and nodded to the newcomer. Pearl had finally made it. "Did I miss anything good? W-Why is the stage on fire?"

"Yeah, you sure missed… Something, P." Amethyst sniggered at Pearl's realisation of what the two on stage were wearing.

"I think it's a part of the show." Steven replied happily, ushering her to an empty seat next to him. She quietly sat down, the sweater so big that her hands were completely engulfed in its sleeves. He tugged at them in his childish manner. "Did you manage to bring Sapphire?"

"Yes." She gave a brief nod, frowning as she looked backwards. "She's quite upset over something, though. It's a little distressing and I'll need to talk to the others about it when we come back." She then tensed at Steven's sudden, puzzled frown. "But, hey, we're here to enjoy the show, right?"

"Uh. Guys." Amethyst's voice seemed all too drained all of the sudden. Pearl's brows furrowed as she realised the other had turned an even lighter colour of lilac.

"Amethyst? What's wrong?"

It was that moment that the sky began to turn an off shade of green.

A very familiar shade of emerald, the one which instilled only complete terror in the pallid gem.

The Crystal Gems looked up, simultaneous in their action.

Luminescent, the clouds began to shift and turn in on themselves as a deafening noise crashed through the sound barrier. And then, complete silence.

Until a shrill cry.

Pearl screamed as she realised exactly what she was looking at.

"O-Oh… No. _No, no, no_!" Peridot clung to the sides of her seat. The lower lids of her eyes crinkled as she cringed. Her face was all too suddenly twisted in pure fear.

"It can't be… This can't be happening!" Steven cried out jumping straight into Pearl's arms as he pointed directly upward with a chubby index finger. He then buried himself into the maternal figure's bosom, cowering his sight away from the rest of the world. Petrified.

Pearl couldn't move. Her stomach turned. Her whole body shaking.

She wanted to say something to the boy to stop his cries, to cease his fear.

Eyes wide.

The screams of a million gems filled her head. The images of the war thundering through her skull, causing her to shrivel away. Dread replaced all possible substances within her body. It was like a mouse in its last moments looking directly at the glowing eyes of a swooping, predatorial owl.

They were indeed, that. Prey.

The pale gem wanted this to be a terrible nightmare. A nightmare she could snap out of. The residents around her were beginning to scatter away. They'd seen this all before. They didn't know what was going on, but they were fleeing. None of the aliens could, however.

She was suffocating. She began to choke on a thousand words trying to spill out of her throat at once. She looked around, barely processing those beside her. Lapis' body was completely withdrawn, Ruby looked up in utter horror. Jasper, poor Jasper, on stage was absolutely awestruck as she glanced up in the sky. She hadn't been expecting this, not now. Not yet. Not at this moment.

Panic.

Panic of the worst kind. She clung onto the boy so hard that he yelped in pain. Rose wasn't here. No one could protect them now.

Her skin pricked when she heard Peridot mumble beside her. There was nothing resembling gusto or forwardness in her tone.

Fear.

Fear, only fear.

"T-That's the Right Hand." The green gem whispered. "They've come for us. This is it."


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter Thirty Seven- Extinguished Flames**

Peridot knew Homeworld was ruthless. She'd grown up under its rule. Hell, she identified as a part of it until fairly recently and conformed to its terror of a regime. And yet, she still hadn't expected them to start firing down.

At least she'd been decent enough to go down to converse with the enemy. To show Jasper what she was looking for.

No, there was no speech. No introductions. Their enemy was faceless. Operating a giant, intergalactic hand and blasting down at Beach City with an array of lazers. Buildings were beginning to burn, people screamed. Gems screamed. Jasper, angered, had literally picked up the stage from its foundations and thrown the still alight wooden set of planks and cables at the ship, screaming, "NO ONE INTERRUPTS MY SET!"

Clearly, that had to be the only thing she was upset about.

Mayor Dewey had sobbed as his stage slammed into the sky. "My new donation!" He screamed at the heavens.

"P-Pearl? We've gotta run. Come on." Steven tugged at her hand. She was frozen to the spot. "Pearl, we need to go!"

She just sat there. Wide eyed, as chaos built around her. Boom! Bits of shrapnel began exploding over her as the hand was starting to shoot at the city. Amethyst had picked her up and hoisted the taller gem over her shoulder. "We need to run. Pearl's down. Steven, find your dad and get safe, alright? I'll…"

She was interrupted by a closer hit of the lazer, the ground setting alight and a large wall of fire blasting out of the ground. "Oh, fuck." She swallowed, grabbing a hold of Steven's hand in her own. "Change of plan. Stick by me. We'll… We'll… For fuck's sakes don't cry! Not-N-Not now! I'm… We're all freaking out, Steven, just…" They both broke down, skin burning at the heat of the flames.

"H-Hang on." He wiped a tear away. "I'll bubble us and we'll roll out. Where are the others? Lapis? Peridot?" He called, desperate, as the world turned pink. He enclosed himself and Amethyst in the circular form. "We oughtta be safe in here. There's Lapis."

The blue gem was hurtling water at the flames, trying to cool it and stop it from spreading. She picked up the water from the ocean and chucked it away into surrounding fire. Peridot and Jasper were shielding her from further lazers as they attempted to get away. Jasper was carrying Greg, both still donned in their outfits from before, under her arm.

"Guys! We're heading to the temple, alright?" Amethyst called, but couldn't get her voice loud enough to escape the bubble. "Oh, geeze. We'll have to get close to them. Come on, let's roll."

They managed to spin their way to the Homeworld gems. Steven broke the bubble to allow the four to jump into its protection. Out of breath, they paused to settle down a little as the world turned to a wreck around them.

Amethyst was the first to recover. "What the hell is this?" She snapped to the three, gently putting Pearl's limp body down. "Why are they here? I thought they had no idea where you guys were."

"I… I sent a distress signal and a death frequency like Garnet told me." Peridot replied, shaky. She then began to push at the bubble to move. "There's no reason they should have come. They should think I've died. This planet was abandoned. They… They should never be here! We need to move. There's enough energy in those blasts to vapourise us in a hit. This bubble won't be enough to protect us."

Jasper nodded, joining her. "This is an initial attack phase. We deploy an arsenal to begin with when we're… Invading. This is an invasion plan. I don't… Understand why. We never had any hunger for this planet since it was abandoned."

"Will it stop?" Amethyst asked, rolling the sphere. The rest of the still mobile inhabitants of the bubble had joined along with trying to roll it to the temple.

"Shortly." Jasper replied. "Once they see Beach City isn't a threat, it will stop for about a day or so as it manages to scout the perimeters. Then, it will possibly send a few more attacks just to see how a provocation causes the place to respond. It should then go idle as they set up."

"They set up?" Greg asked, falling on his face as he lost his footing. "Set up for what?"

She pushed away her wild, long locks. "The reception of the rest of the invasion fleet. That's when we're screwed."

"Jasper… Are you with us on this?" The purple gem glanced up, balling her fists. "Because we need to know, right now."

"Well, duh. No one attacks when I'm still going through my song list. Ain't that right, daddy-Universe?"

Everyone looked at Greg still on the floor as he shrugged. "Eh. I guess so."

"This musical performance was my pride! I spent hours sewing tiny kitten skulls onto the hems of this corset. Homeworld will pay for this!" The orange gem raised her fist, threateningly screaming. However, the sound barely made it out of their space within the sphere.

"I'm with you, too." Peridot nodded. "Like I said before, I'm going to be destroyed if I go back."

"Homeworld's not a place for me, anymore." Lapis shrunk next to Pearl's unmoving form. "I'll do all I can to help."

"Then that's settled, you guys are honorary crystal gems!" Steven beamed. He then looked around. "Wait, where's Garnet?"

"Ruby and Sapphire are still split." Amethyst looked around in horror. "They're still out there! We can't leave without them."

"But everything's on fire! And they're blasting at us." Greg winced as a row of buildings were turned to ash at another blast. "Well. There goes The Big Donut."

"No!" Steven screamed, watching the large fake donut roll out of sight. "Not that! Anything but that!"

"Wait! I see Sapphire!" Everyone turned as Pearl finally stood up, seemingly having snapped out of it. "Everyone. Get back inside, now. Make sure you're all safe. Steven, let me out right now and I'll go and bring those two back home."

"Pearl? A-Are you sure?" He stumbled over his words, too shaken to process much more of this.

"Please. I'll be fine. I just… Had a moment." She swallowed and turned to the rest of the gems. "Sorry you had to see that. I'll be alright once I make sure those two are safe."

…

"Ruby!" Sapphire called out for the other gem, her voice desperate. She paused to search her mind for a future where she'd find the other. Bang. That was it, just around the corner. She could practically hear the other gem screaming her name. "Ruby! It's me!"

She picked up the trail of her skirt and paced to the direction of her lover. She just had to find her. Just get out of this mess. Everything would be fine as long as she had her. As long as she had Ruby back in her arms.

A blinding light.

The lazer.

It burst into the building before her, slicing it in half and causing chunks to fall down before the entire building began to collapse. Sapphire gave an ear splitting scream as she tried to get out of the way, but realised she had little hope of making it out unscathed.

That was until she felt a push. All of the sudden, the small blue gem saw stars as her head hit the pavement. In her previous place, a pile of the concrete rubble had fallen. She waited for a few seconds until all had stopped before finally trying to get up.

Silence.

She looked around, and made her way closer to the spot.

Ruby.

 _Ruby._

The Crystal Gem lay limply under a large pile covering her. It appeared to be the section of a window, glass slicing at her throat. She groaned in pain, Sapphire could see her lover twitching. She ran over. Calling her name over and over again.

Ruby's face turned to see her, her lips curling up to a gentle smile. A pained smile.

"Ruby! Y-You didn't… Why did you do that? You're all hurt!" Sapphire began to dig Ruby's body out from the pile. "W-Why aren't you talking to me? Please, say something!" Horror struck her as the red gem's mouth opened and a slur of garbled words spilled out. "No! Your gem! L-Let me see your hand. Please!"

She nearly jumped back as Ruby's form began to glitch out. The other giving pained noises every time a part of her body morphed. Sapphire couldn't look away.

She couldn't stop watching the death of the one presence she loved the most.

Her eye met Ruby's pair for the last time before the red gem split into several tiny fragments.

Ruby was gone.

Gone, completely.

Garnet would never form again.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter Thirty Eight- Joan of Arc**

Jasper's eyes closed.

 _"I'm going to make you scream, you filthy experiment."_

Lapis' tender fingers brushed her frame. Her cape fell to the floor as it was undone.

 _Jasper's legs were forced apart. Her body shook. She looked into the wall. Comfort. That stony coldness was the only comfort she knew._

 _"No. I want you to look at me."_

Lapis' kisses trailed to her neck. Her wild hair was brushed out of her face. "Open your eyes." A soft voice beckoned her.

"I can't. Please, just do what you have to."

 _Make it stop. No. She had to endure this. She'd endured far worse. "This is your service to your creators. You should be grateful you can fulfil our needs this way. Maybe one day they'll let you become a warrior. If you're a good little experiment."_

"I want this to be good for both of us. Malachite doesn't need to be built on hatred."

"It'll never be good." She gasped.

"Jasper…" Lapis' kisses became more gentle. Even this didn't calm the sickness in her belly. "Who hurt you like this?"

"Just do it. I don't want to think. We need to… We need to love in order to do this. You need to love what I am."

"I already do, you dumb thing." She sighed, putting Jasper's clothes back on her. Shoulders slumping. "You just don't understand love. Not if it hit you on the head like a speeding truck."

 _Slam. Her body slammed against the wall. Her muscles tensed._

"Please. We need to form Malachite to have a chance of defending ourselves." She gave a raspy grunt, spreading her legs. "Explore me. Take me. Love me."

"Jasper. No."

"Just do it. Isn't this what you wanted? For me to splay myself out like some animal in heat? Didn't you try this before?"

She shook her head. The room shuddered as a nearby building collapsed down. They'd long gone stopped trying to keep track of what was still standing. It was a miracle the temple had not fallen. "No. I want you to do this with me. You have to… Reciprocate."

Jasper looked away. Her voice frail. "I've never reciprocated. Just. Make yourself at home with me. I'm yours to use. We need to rise before we fall."

"This is more than your duty."

"I don't matter. I am a warrior. A pawn in a game." She sighed as Lapis redressed her. "Be cruel, little bird. I know it's in you. Hurt me. I know you're still angry with what I made you do."

"That's contradictory to what we're trying to do!" Lapis huffed. "Malachite was our rage. Our indignation. Our hatred. Your fury and my sorrow. It was the manifestation of how much we hated one another and it nearly killed us both. If you want any chance of this working, we've… We've got to let go of the past and both move on!"

"Then do it!"

"I can't." She shook her head. "Not when you're… Like this whenever I touch you. They hurt you, and your scars aren't gone. Jasper, you act all strong, and you are. But your scars are going to bleed harder the more you try and hide them! I-I know that more than anything!"

 _"Don't ever forget this. This is what you are. You are scum. You shouldn't even exist." Finally. It was over. She slumped on the ground. Her body quaking. She felt sick. So, so sick. "This is all you'll ever be."_

"Is that what you see, Lapis?" She whispered, finally opening her eyes. "A broken warrior? Someone torn apart from the inside?"

"That's what you see. Not what I do. Not what any of us see."

"Then what do you see?"

"I see someone hurt. Someone trying to change." She kissed Jasper's eyes. "We can't just bounce back, guns blazing. Let them finish their first attack. They'll retreat a little and… We'll…"

"No. We're not giving ourselves up. I'm not going… I can't go back to the beginning. That's what they'll make me."

"You and I will be alright. We can just… We can just pretend we were held by them and…"

"No." She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to sit up. The couch creaked under her. "I told them I was with them now. I'll… I've already betrayed my home. I won't double cross them. They treated me with the greatest kindness when I was their prisoner. After all I did, all I could have done. I was never hurt after I was taken in. I can't… I can't hurt them again."

"Jasper…"

"That fusion was… Stronger than me. But she showed me kindness. The boy did, too. They didn't force me to do anything else. I'm… One of them, now." She cupped Lapis' face. "I know you want to be free. Go on. Fly away. Fly far, far away from this planet to where you'll be safe. You can still get away. I was made to fight. And that's what I'll do. But you're… You're precious."

She shook her head. "I can't. No. I cannot leave myself behind anymore. Time will pass me by and I'll become even more lost. I'll stay by you. I'll stay by Steven."

"I guess he's right." She chuckled as the temple shook from another explosion outside. It appeared that the military had been called in as large tanks grazed the ocean and were now shooting at The Right Hand. It, of course, had no effect.

"What do you mean?"

"We are a part of The Crystal Gems, now."

…

Garnet's death had caused distress.

No one said much.

Steven had at first bawled. Then cried until he'd fallen to restless sleep, and woken up happily to say good morning to the fusion before realising she was gone.

Amethyst had stayed in her room. No one approached her.

Pearl didn't speak.

Sapphire was left to grieve on her own. No matter how much comfort she was given, she didn't want it. She wished to be silent.

Greg had offered to attempt to try take Steven away from the mess, but the gems refused. They needed his shield. They needed the boy's company. It was too unsafe to leave. Amethyst and Pearl had managed to summon the emotional strength to form a bubble around the temple as a means of protection.

Everyone knew it wouldn't last long. There was no safety now. Not when Homeworld was concerned.

Steven had caught the dancer gem standing and staring at his mother's portrait several times throughout the course of the next couple of days. He stared at the city evacuating. The wifi had gone completely down, and Connie wasn't answering her phone at all. He hoped she was safe, at least.

It was by the third day that news finally hit them.

They had awoken to a constant thumping noise. Lion was outside, growling at a spot in the barrier as the noise continued. Steven had gone down to investigate, under the strict supervision of Pearl. But she didn't really look like she cared, anymore. Bubbling Ruby's gem had left her distraught.

"Guys! Come look at this! Peridot, it's one of your things!"

"You shouldn't go out that far, Steven." His father hopped down the steps. "Oh, geeze. It's a tiny robot."

"A robonoid!" Peridot jumped out of the window. "They must have sent another Peridot to control the ship. Oh, wow. This is one of the official ones. See, it even has Yellow Diamond's insignia on it!"

"It… looks like it wants to be let in." Pearl wandered over to the trio staring at the small Robonoid as it tried to pace in. "Can it harm us?"

"Barely. These things are meant as little servicing tools. I have my own collection, or had, at my disposal to do my bidding, but on their own, aside from scouting, they don't really do much that is all that threatening."

"Then… Why would they send us one? Are they trying to scout the perimeter?"

"Likely." The green gem rubbed her chin. "But it's more likely they've sent us a message. Open this bubble for me. I'll squish it as soon as its job is done."

Steven glanced up at the unsure looking Pearl. She then meekly nodded her head. "It's worth a try, I guess. Steven, help me break this bubble, will you?"

"O-Okay." He tried to smile at her. Nothing made him want to smile at all. They both placed their hands at the side of the sphere and soon, it vanished. The tiny robot scampered along and Peridot picked it up. "Should we put the bubble back up?"

"Probably a good idea." Peridot replied before Pearl could, utterly transfixed by the A.I. "I never thought I'd get to see one of these models. One second… Just press it here… And then, there. Haha! Yes. We have one message from The Diamond Authority! It's a vocal one. If I just press here, then…"

They all jumped as a hologram popped out of its top section. Triumphant music filled the air. "Oh, that brings back memories." Pearl whispered, looking into it. "Seems like they remixed the old Homeworld anthem."

"We figured it needed an update." Peridot gave a shrug and watched as the hologram flickered into illegible text. A voice began to speak out.

"Remnants of the Quartz Army.

We are aware of your presence still on this planet through notification by one of our experimental warriors."

"Jasper. She sent a relay when we were about to set back to the Homeworld!" Peridot hissed. She was shushed by Pearl.

"It appears Rose Quartz is still alive. We request to have her immediately turned over, alongside with the surviving Earth army for trial. We will continue to send destructive forces until you surrender.

We wish to not have another war, but the rest of the Homeworld fleet has been sent and will arrive shortly. We are prepared to cause entire annihilation to this planet.

You have until tomorrow until our next attack."


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter Thirty Nine- Waves of Hope**

"Okay. So. We have approximately twelve hours before they strike next." Pearl swallowed, rubbing at her temples with a jarring amount of anxiety. "The likelihood of us dying is incredibly high. However, humanity may be spared if we give ourselves up."

"Bullshit." Jasper crossed her arms. Finally having gotten changed into her usual attire. "They're sending in an invasion fleet. That means one thing and one thing only. They're planning to take over Earth again and relaunch kindergarten. I was a part of the front lines. I know exactly what I'm looking at. If we offer ourselves for the salvation of this helpless world, we're still dooming them."

Lapis nodded. "While they were technologically advanced, I could see the cracks in the façade a mile away. Homeworld has an expiration date, and it's no longer a millennia, nor century away. They're sapping up all of their own resources. Earth is plentiful in minerals, and although it's tiny, it's the best place for gem cultivation."

"I am aware." The dancer gem replied, stoic. "I was on the maiden journey to this place, after all. You must remember it, too, Jasper."

"Pah, barely. I was just excited to be let out at that point." She gripped at a pillow, making it crunch below her fist. "But, yeah. This place is what they want. You're all just icing on the cake, really. The reason we didn't fly in before was because we were damn scared of Rose Quartz's presence. As soon as I let them know she was compromised, they must've taken off." Everyone glared at her. "Alright, I'm sorry. I didn't know the damage it would cause back then."

"We can't blame anyone for the past right now." Pearl sighed, bringing her knees inwards. She looked around to see Steven attempting to kill time by playing on his GameCube. "But if what you're saying is true, then giving ourselves up just for humanity's sake is fruitless. They're doomed, anyway."

"They won't stand a chance." Peridot nodded, speaking up. "We barely have one. They don't have anything at all. If you thought the last war on this planet had them massacred by just being bystanders, then you'll be seeing another homicide."

"At worst," Jasper carried on for her, "The residents of Homeworld are now aware of the amount of mineral content in humans. If they capture the Earth, you can expect homosapien blood to be spilt upon the ground to feed newborn gems. Either they will die in the overtaking, or be slaughtered for our benefit."

Pearl looked distant. Horror frozen over her face. "Then we must do all we can to prevent this. Rose Quartz stood for the protection of this planet and the sanctity of its life. We, the remaining Crystal Gems, will do all we can to honour her memory."

"Whatever we do, it'll be suicide." Lapis slowly stated. The rest of the gems stared her down. "What? There's no way we'll be able to fight them. You have nothing of what you had before, Crystal Gems. No army, no Rose. We're barely a group."

"We have gem shards. Many gem shards." Amethyst pondered, rubbing at her chin.

"Amethyst, you cannot be serious." The taller crystal gem furrowed her brows. "Gem shards are dangerous. They are volatile and cannot be trusted."

"Exactly the reason why they're perfect!" She grinned. "Think about it. We throw them some clothes, let some monsters form and throw them out for that giant hand to deal with. It'll be like our middle finger… To the giant middle finger!"

"We do have access to Rose's armoury… And her shield." She sideglanced over to the boy, who was annihilating his father at Mario Kart. "If we were to place… Gem shards into vestments, say the armour of the fallen, we would have a lot more at our disposal to fight back with."

She was interrupted by a loud guffaw. Jasper was keeling over her knee. "T-The armour of the fallen? That's priceless! Yeah. Next we'll be sending out another arsenal of Rose Cannons. Come on. That shit's so old I'm can't believe you still have it!"

"Actually…" Peridot scraped her disconnected fingers on the table surface, a calculating expression draped over her features. "That just might work to our advantage. Yes, what we have at our defences is… A relic, compared to the warfare resources Homeworld has in stock, but isn't that what will throw them off? Homeworld's weapons are advanced. They're too advanced. We've forgotten how to fight a good old fashioned war."

"That is… True." Pearl glanced over to Jasper and Lapis. "You two are from that era of battalion. You know what war is. What fighting means and the calculation and expertise that goes into it. With all due respect, Peridot, without your weapons and tech, you're about as useful as a fly in a fight."

"Gee. Thanks."

"No. That is true. You're absolutely no help at all. The newer Homeworld gems barely know how to wrestle." Jasper rubbed at her chin.

"You clods are doing absolute _wonders_ to my self-esteem." The lime being rolled her eyes, gritting her teeth in annoyance.

The bulky, orange gem continued. "If we find a way to at least temporarily screw with their technology, we'll be left with just the gems. I'm, believe it or not, a rarity. There's not too many gems left over from the war. Most were slaughtered as failures and redesigned to create new types of roles in the Homeworld, like the techie brat here."

"With you and Lapis, we were evenly matched, because you knew what we were and we knew what you had in store." Pearl tumped a skinny fist onto her palm, a fiery determination in her eyes. "Behind the gem destabilisers and new tech, Homeworld's gems have never experienced a true battle, have they Peridot?"

"No. I've been alive for a couple of centuries, and in my lifetime, this was the first time I actually set foot on a planet during a mission. All scouts and battles are done behind a ship."

"That's perfect." Pearl stood up, projecting a blue light from her gem. "Then we have our game board set at the ready. We need to figure out a way to disable all weaponry The Right Hand has to offer. Peridot and I are both technologically specific gems with varying degrees of experience on such. Her and I will work on a plan to raid and destroy. Amethyst, you, Jasper and Lapis will join our gem-shard warriors to then take out the actual residents of the ship."

"Will we… Have to destroy them?" Amethyst glanced up, worry in her voice.

"Well, duh!" She was picked up and noogied by Jasper. "We're in a war, kiddo. You wanna protect this planet or not?"

"Yes." She wrestled herself out of the orange gem's playful grip. "I'll fight for the place in which I was created in. Just, this time, we'll actually tell the human race it was us and we rocked it! I want my face on a milk carton as a war hero, P!"

"If we win, I will consider the milk carton."

"Hell yeah!" Amethyst pumped her fist, before looking back at the temple door. "Hey, what about Sapphire? Ain't it… Kinda early to make her fight with us? I mean, Ruby just died a couple of days ago. She's still a total wreck."

"Oh, no. If there's one thing I know about Sapphire is that she'll be more than willing to fight these… Monsters. Especially after… After Ruby." Pearl gave a hungered grin. Her palms were clammy, held firm at her sides. There was a thirst in her face. A parch for a battle. "It's been much too long since my duty was reunited to me. I am a knight." Her eyes flickered to Steven, who had just beaten the track in first place and was cheering. "Now, all I need is my Rose."

And thus, the preparations for war began. As soon as their talks of role allocation had ended, Pearl and Peridot had split off to discuss further details on how their plan of disabling technology was to occur.

Jasper had grabbed Steven and left with the rest in order to train up strategies for fighting.

By that evening, talk of battle had outright filled the air and hearts of the temple residents. Greg had taken to nervously sipping at hot chocolate in order to ease his nerves.

He failed, disastrously.

As the humans, or at least the half humans, had been laid to rest, Pearl had grabbed the green gem and led her down to the basement. The previous resident of Homeworld carefully ambled down the stairs as she was led down the stony steps, plunging into complete darkness.

"This seems kinda… Dangerous."

"Nothing compared to tomorrow!" Pearl sang out, firmly keeping her grip on the other. "Stop fidgeting and just come down. I have something to show you. We initially thought it would be too dangerous to reunite you with this, but… Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm afraid I did take it apart a little in order to tinker around to see what you all had come up with while I was gone, but with a bit of repair, it should be back to running."

She flicked on the switch to the light and illuminated the tiny, damp room. Peridot raced forward, like a lost lamb to a shepherd. "M-My escape pod! It's safe!"

"Mhm." She gave a knowing grin. "I figured we may be able to find it useful. Our bubbles may not hold up to blasts of energy from Homeworld ships, but this ought to stand a bigger chance, right?"

"Absolutely! The enemy ship will recognise it as one of its own! Pearl! This is legitimately the key to our raid!"

"Excellent." She hummed, letting the other drop down and fiddle with its contents. "You set to work on that and I'll be back in approximately an hour. I need to get to Rose's Armoury and seek what I can carry back for tomorrow. Some of it will need tending to before we can work it with the shards. You stay here and mend your pod, alright?"

"Yes…" She paused, and gave a naughty smile before adding, " _Mistress."_

"No. Not out here. I'm just a Pearl here."

Peridot gave a look of confusion at the sudden pain in the taller gem's eyes. "What do you mean? You're practically orchestrating this mission. You should call yourself a commander."

"No. I'm not that."

"Well… I think you are."

Pearl blinked, flushing. "All I am doing is in the name of Rose Quartz. This is not about me. I cannot take credit for the mission."

"That boy is your superior?" She cocked a brow, completely sarcastic, but her face fell as Pearl's response was utterly serious.

"Yes. And I will die before him, a million times if necessary."

Peridot looked around. Unable to respond to the other gem's blind loyalty with any kind of rebuttal.

She stood up and faced Pearl before dropping to a knee. "If that's the case, then let me be what you are to her." She glanced up. The pale gem was awestruck. As if taking a moment to process this. "I will follow you, wherever you go. I will be your… Knight. Thing."


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter Forty- Space Jam**

 **AN: Do yourself a favour and listen to the Space Jam soundtrack while reading this chapter. Trust me. That, or Mortal Kombat. Or anything mildly action-y. It makes it all more theatric. This whole part was immensely fun to write.**

The sun dripped over the coast as it began to slowly rise, stretching out and painting the sky a hued pink.

Footsteps cracking on sand. The gems descended to the edge of the bubble.

Pearl's tone was cold. "Sapphire. Predictions."

"They'll launch at us about twenty feet away once they see our aggression. Total annihilation. Advice, deploy the decoy."

Pearl gave a nod, unsheathing her sword and glancing at the boy. "Steven. Are you ready?"

He gave a sure reply. "Yes!"

She closed her eyes as fears were repressed. "Jasper, your time to shine."

The bulking gem summoned her armour and gave a nod, picking the boy under her arm. Pearl grabbed at a walkie talkie on her hip. She pressed its side and spoke in. "Operative Guitar Dad. This is… Bird mom? Bird mom! Amethyst! You were meant to pick sensible names! For heaven's sakes… Whatever. How does the situation look from your station? Over."

"All clear." Greg's voice crackled from the speakers. "There's no sign of them moving, but they've gotten closer than they were when we last checked. O-Over."

"Thank you. Over."

"Is that all you want? Over."

She was becoming more and more frustrated. "Yes, this conversation is _over_. Over."

"Do we have to say over after every speech is over? Over."

She rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Yes. We know we're not being cut off. For God's sakes, Greg. You've seen more police films than millennia I've been alive! …Over."

"Okie dokey!" Came the nervous response. "Just take care of my son. Over."

"Keep at your station, Space Dad. Over."

"Will do… _Bird mom_." Greg could be heard chuckling as Pearl angrily fisted the walkie talkie into her hip. "Over."

"Surely you could be using more advanced methods of communication?" Peridot rolled her eyes as the other gem paced forth.

"On the contrary. This is the only signal they won't think of tracking. It's so far below you all, it's the most secure we can get. Thanks for letting us borrow them, Steven. Now. Peridot, prepare the pod. Amethyst, set back and hold the garage key. You wait for my signal before deploying the shards. Alright." She rubbed her temples, looking at her party before giving a definite nod. "This is for humanity and our survival. Jasper. Get ready."

The second the bubble came down, Jasper slowly began to walk towards the giant space ship floating over the coast. Lapis was on her side. The blue gem nudged the boy. "Act like you're struggling a little. But not too much."

"Shut up, informant!" Jasper yelled at her, causing wide eyed looks from the both of them. Immediately, her face fell. "What, too much?"

"Oh, right!" Steven nodded. "Acting." He then began to whine. " _Oooohh noo! I'm being taken back to Homeworld. What in the world am I going to do? Yellow Diamond…_ That's her name, right?"

Both the Homeworld gems rolled their eyes and simultaneously groaned, " _Yes_."

"Yellow Diamond, have mercy on poor Steven!"

"Your name is Rose Quartz!" Jasper danced around with the boy, showing him off to the ship. "And you and your traitorous forces will stand no longer! It's over! Long live Homeworld! Long live Gemkind!"

It was at that moment the ship began to descend.

…

"Isn't the whole… Flag, a bit much?" The green gem cocked a brow as she curled in a little to make herself more comfortable. "We can barely fit in here together."

"Well, maybe we'd both fit if this ENTIRE SHIP WASN'T COVERED IN YOUR STRANGE, DISGUSTING JELLY." Pearl snapped.

"I'll have you know that this stuff is the most advanced shock absorbant in the cosmos." Peridot's fingers hovered over the control pad and the pod began to lift a little. "Furthermore, its healing properties are extraordinary. Any surface wound on your gem can be patched up with the stuff."

She pressed her body against Peridot's, trying to make herself more comfortable. "What's it even made of?"

Peridot gave a dirty chuckle. "You don't want to know."

She grimaced, her body covered in the goo. "Oh my God you have got to be kidding."

"I told you." She began to drive it forth. "Now, stop panicking. We'll take them from behind and jump aboard. The mains are on the bottom layer of the ships. We get there, wreak havoc and leave before we're obliterated."

The pod began to travel forth a little. Pearl's face began to get a lot more agitated as they neared the ocean. Had it not been for the mood, it would have been a beautiful dawn. Her hands curled around Peridot's shoulder.

"In case we don't make this, I'd like you to know that I greatly respected your talents and enjoyed your company."

"I'm in love with you, you goddamn Clod." She replied, twisting a joystick and managing to accelerate their speed. They were hovering above water. "I gave my body for your use, and the last thing you try and tell me is that you _enjoyed my company?_ "

"I'm under no obligation to reciprocate." She bit a snarl. Sometimes, the other was just too much. Calm thoughts, Pearl. She closed her eyes. "But, fine. I don't say this often. But I… You made me experience feelings I haven't had for decades. Not since Rose… Left us. I have a lot of time for you and I'm glad you're with us. I think I might even love you back. Thank you."

"Eh. I suppose that's acceptable." Peridot grinned and slowed their speed as they reached the back part of the left hand. "That's it… The ship has detected our presence, but there's no registry as a threat. If I just… Dial here and input the variant code there… Yep. We're now a part of their mainframe. Huh. Not too many signed on gems aboard of this one, and it's got no escorts. They must be stocking up on the invasion fleet. Great, this makes everything easier."

"Peridot, let's not get overconfident." They began to hover a little, and with the input of Peridot's controls, a space appeared for them to land in. "We could very easily be destroyed if this doesn't go to plan."

"Hush now." She whispered as they came in close. "They'll be sending someone to check up on us. Once we're in the clear, you do your thing."

Pearl ducked even lower into the crawlspace as the green décor of The Right Hand surrounded them once more. She felt a massive twinge of unease pound through her body as memories of being forced onto the ship filled her mind. Being a prisoner had no good bearing on her PTSD. As soon as they landed and stabilised themselves on the ship's floor, they exchanged looks.

Peridot's hand gently curled around Pearl's, squeezing it in affirmation. The Earth gem gave a small nod as the top opened and the Homeworld gem grabbed herself out, leaving her alone in the ship. Pearl hugged herself to the flag. Rose's symbol of rebellion. Their current symbol. The only hope they really had in this whole mess.

She looked at the screen, eyes grazing as another figure came into the view. From the looks of it, it was another Peridot. Near identical to… To her own one.

"Comrade Earth-Tech Peridot number 1201." She spoke with an icy tone. Pearl shuddered at the sound. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been stranded on this forsaken planet ever since my mission turned out to be a disaster!" She heard the gem reply. "I'm willing to share my account of the mission as soon as we return to the Homeworld. I'm in need of refuge and safety. My ship, escort and informant have been missing."

"We've located those two alongside with what they claim to be a remnant of Rose directly over there on the coast. Interesting how you two seemed to miss one another." Pearl's stomach turned at the suspicion in the enemy's tone.

"Please. I just want to return. This place is disgusting, and they ruined The Cluster project! We're going to have to start from scratch."

"Fine." Came the cold reply. "But you will be taken back as prisoner. Your failure is a disgrace. The fact that I have been summoned from my post here is an equal one. You should have been the one to lead this mission, 1201."

"Oh? A prisoner?" She could hear a smirk in Peridot's tone. "And why should I? I've yet to do wrong to our planet."

"You're acting very strange." A hiss. "You've disobeyed directive. You came aboard our fleet unannounced and under compromised circumstances. Kindly give yourself up for our standard search and examination. We'll… Fix whatever's wrong with you. Hands forward for your cuffs. I have my destabiliser at the ready."

A yawn. Peridot sighed. "Well. What a shame. I thought you'd be happy to see me. This practically drives a _spear through my heart._ "

Pearl's skin pricked up. She quickly summoned her weapon and hopped out of the roof. The enemy gem gave a quick scream as she was tackled to the ground by Peridot, her further noises muffled by a handless set of fingers covering her mouth as Pearl gracefully launched herself and drove the weapon straight through the enemy. A scream pounded through the halls, echoing. A desperate screech of absolute agony.

As the gem turned into a rock flavoured kebab, Peridot stared into her eyes and chuckled. "Call this a rebellion." She then jumped directly onto the other gem's forehead, crushing the gem below her dense weight. Instantly, a bright light flashed over the green room, and the enemy was no more. Twitching limbs fell at where they had been previously connected to a body.

"Excellent." Pearl gave a hasty nod and quickly moved to bubble the broken entrails of the gem. "Right. Lead the way."

…

"A distress beacon." Jasper whispered as a part of the ship turned alight. "They've gotten in and killed someone." The hand began to twitch a little, as if the controls were being frantically piloted. A sudden beam of light started to twitch at the fingertips as a lazer charge up. "Well. That's our ruse gone. Lapis, your move!"

The blue gem nodded and raised her hands, ignoring the charge of the ship's cannons, instead summoning two huge hands of water to grab a hold of the hand. The ship started to frantically try and pull away, but wasn't quick enough to deflect the hold. A wrestle started against the body of aqua, as Lapis' movements grew more and more haggard. She started to buckle at her knees, shaking. "They're trying to get away!"

Jasper gaped, making a hand gesture over her forehead to summon her helmet. "Shit! They're charging up to fire at us. Let them go!"

"No!" Lapis screamed. "Never again! I'm not letting them take this planet! Not if it kills me! They will never take me as their prisoner, ever again!"

Jasper dropped the boy down from her grasp. "That's insane! They're going to shoot! Lapis!"

A bright light shot out of the ship.

There was a sudden screech as the lazer impacted. But it wasn't upon the gem. Steven had his arms outstretched, a look of fierce determination blazing in his eyes. The orange gem looked in awe as a mass of pink had built up before them, facing the ray head on. "The shield! Yes, go little warrior! Keep it up. Lapis! Come on! I'll go and charge at it. You keep defending her, Steven, and Lapis, hold onto the ship."

Steven looked down at his sandals, still holding the shield. The granuels of sand had started to tremble.

Thunder.

A thundering noise took over the air.

"Yeeeehaw!" All three gems looked backwards. Amethyst was riding on the shoulders of a suit of armour, cracking her whip on its back. A hundred more followed her lead, marching from the garage. There was a silent prayer from the gems as they thanked their own celestial beings that the army of non-thinking monsters was actually on their side. "Mush, ancient suit of armour! Mush! Charge at the evil hand of doom! Wreck the assholes!"

"That's my call." Jasper nodded to the other two and faced the hand again. "Do whatever you can to cover us." And with that, she tensed her body and curled up before charging at it at breakneck speed, launching herself head-first into the ship. She was tiny compared to the Hand, however, her attack made the entire thing rock back, unsteady. Lapis took this as a chance to summon another hand and start dragging it a few feet closer into the ocean.

Amethyst's troop of the gem shard warriors slammed into the ship. Initially, it tried to flick them off, but there were simply too many. They tore into the green walls, spitting acid.

Steven felt tears prick at his eyes, his body shaking as his shield deflected another beam of energy directed at Lapis. They were fighting back. And from how much closer Lapis was to submerging the ship, they were…

They were winning.

…

"Over here." Peridot raced through the ship core and placed a foot on a pad which turned luminescent green. "This leads down to the engines." Instantly, a hole opened up for them to jump down into.

"Good." Pearl nodded and leaped inside. She landed, bracing her body with a hand. The ship had started to rock about back and forth not too long after they'd killed their initial victim. A brutal murder meant nothing in war, and nothing anymore to her. She'd seen it before, many times. Adrenaline pumped through her as she examined the surroundings, a vast, cavernous space with a giant, yellow tinted formation in the middle.

Peridot landed about a foot below her, bracing her arm cannon. "I'd hold onto something. I'm going to blast it a few times, which will make the ship's initial core engines fail. The failsafes will then activate, that's the side panels, just there… And there." She indicated to them. "You have to take them out before they can form bubbles over themselves. We won't be able to destroy them, otherwise."

"Are they the only ones?" She whipped her head around as she heard the whirrs of Peridot's arms changing into a tiny cannon.

"No. There's several more located near the mainframes, but with this destroyed, the ship will be rendered useless." The green gem grunted as the light manifested her arm. "The only function it will really have will be to hover away, but with how proud we are, I'm sure the Homeworld troops would more likely be happier to commit suicide in the middle of battle than retreat back and report their failure. You saw how they tried to take me as prisoner."

A beam shot out of the gem's arm and hit slap bang into the formation. Instantly, the whole space began to rock more, causing Peridot to tumble over from her recoil. "Now, Pearl!"

Pearl nodded and raced forward, using her spear to smash through the tinier formations that were beginning to glow as they tried to support the ship. The green gem hollered. "The other one is starting to bubble up! Come on!"

She nodded and raced to the other side. Panels of the Homeworld fleet ship were beginning to fall from above them as acid forced the interior open. Pearl had just managed to deactivate the other in time, but screamed as a destroyed chunk of the ship slammed into her body.

"Pearl!" The green gem yelped, racing to her. She fell over several times in the process, the ship's state becoming more and more volatile. She felt wetness at her feet and realised they were beginning to get submerged. "Pearl, we need to get out of here!"

No response.

Peridot's insides beat with terror. Pearl's body lay next to the rubble itself.

Unhurt. But she was definitely knocked out.

She picked up the body, just as it retreated into that gem. Peridot's eyes marvelled at the fragile form. No. This wasn't the time to ogle at rocks. The water was beginning to rise to her midsection. She placed a hand onto the board, trying to summon an escape pod.

It wasn't working.

This couldn't be happening.

She swallowed, sprinting her way to a wall, sheltering the gemstone next to her chest in one hand as she furiously paced up the wall, thanking whatever had blessed her with the ability to do so. They had to get back to where they'd come from. The pod was their only hope of escape, if it was still there.

The ship rocked beneath her. She could barely see, let alone miss the falling bits of green panelling that were descending from the ceiling. Each impact causing pigment to fly and scatter upwards, fragments of plexiglass-like structures obscuring her sight.

The pod. They had to make it back to the pod.

Water draped up to her neck. There it was.

She heard screams behind her. Yelling at her to stop. They'd found her.

They couldn't get Pearl.

No matter what.

As she tried to jump aboard, a force grabbed at her foot. Another at her body. They were dragging her down. The pod, she had to get inside.

She grasped Pearl's gem and pressed her lips against it. She threw it into the interior, her enemies pulling her away. Closing her eyes, the green gem pressed her hands against the luminescent surface. She could taste saltwater in her mouth. She directed the pod to escape just as her hands were forced away from it. Instantly, the sphere shot away, out of sight.

Peridot felt her body attacked. Violated. Hurt.

Her eyes caught sight of the glow of a destabiliser.

At least Pearl would be safe.

At least The Right Hand was no longer actively able to attack.

She yelped as the piercing shock hit her, forcing her to become undone. Her body to retreat. It was like the worst kind of shock. Electricity pumping through her every fibre.

And then.

Darkness.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter Forty One- Flawed Design**

A jolt. Peridot awoke with a single shock to her system.

She knew exactly what it was. They were forcing adrenaline into her. A standard procedure.

It raised her anxiety levels to their brim.

She was enduring this for Pearl. She had to.

The green gem attempted to move one of her limbs. Her vision showed that they were stumps. Only the corner of her vision, though. She had been covered with some form of blindfold. Her system also cooled in fear as she realised she was completely nude.

The adrenaline would be combined with a form of destabilising liquid. It wasn't strong enough to break her down, but she felt sluggish and knew she would be unable to transform. Great. She was entirely weak at the mercy of her captives.

"You disobeyed and betrayed the homeworld. Explain, 1201."

She hissed and recoiled as something touched at her neck. She realised it was a hand. "I don't have to explain anything to you."

"It could be madness, I suppose. This planet and your gem aren't the most compatible."

"The only thing that's mad here is Homeworld and Yellow Diamond herself!" She was silenced with a slap. Rough nails dragged themselves over her bare chest. She realised she still had the genetailia she'd formed for Pearl. A flush of shame pricked heat at her cheeks.

"This is a nice look for you, 1201." A brief chuckle. Several other voices laughed, too. This had an audience. Sickness rocked through her. She'd forgotten how the Homeworld enjoyed watching torture. "If you're nice, we won't hurt it too bad."

"Go fuck yourselves." She bared her teeth and was promptly slapped.

It was better just to stop and pretend they weren't touching her body.

Exploring, with delighted purrs at her reactions.

This was vile in every sense of the word.

"It's clear you still retain the programming to make you not reveal anything to torture. What a shame. I guess we'll just have to have fun reprogramming you back to directive."

Oh. She thrashed against her bindings. No, that would mean complete mind blank. She'd seen it done a few times before. The gems lost themselves. No, not this. Not this!

She gave a pained scream as fingers tore into her flesh, forcing all digits into her midsection's insides. No blood would seep out, but the pain was still there. Her insides registering every sensation of unadulterated agony.

She flinched as she felt cold water poured onto her body. Instantly, it stung. Saltwater on a fresh wound was the worst kind of sting. Gems had little organs, but her insides still cried as she was ripped open. She could feel a buzz as the Homeworld gem operative forced into her circuits. As if they were clutching at her mind. Her eyes flashed static, as if a million tiny ants were running around in her brain. Drool pooled out the side of her mouth as she was forced into a vegetative state.

"Resetting data," She heard the other gem announce as she fought thoughts of stability. "Entry: Total reset to default directive. Directive to progress Homeworld conquest… Achieved."

She had to fight this.

She needed to bring some form of battle against the surge in her mainframe.

A jolt of pleasure made her hungrily cry out.

"Obedience." She heard her captor whisper. "Is your first prerogative."

Oh, yessss. Obedience. Obedience was good. It made her face flush to think of obeying to control. Her thighs shook, trembling. It was pornographic, really, to obey. To do all as her ruler wished. To be that one servant. Ah… To serve. Yes. Yes, to serve was good. She was nothing more than a mindless servant.

"You will obey."

"Yes… Let me obey."

She could hear the pleased grin dripping off her captor's tone. "What are you?"

"I-I'm… ALWAYS A SLUT FOR DORITOS!" She jerked up. This was wrong. She needed to fight. To fight all this… Awfulness. This directive was faulty. Homeworld was corrupt. Chaotic. She couldn't obey. "You're all cretin! Filthy, disgusting and despicable cretin! Let me go, you… you animals! You all failed against the Crystal Gems, and you'll fail again!"

"Oh, she's actually fighting it." A voice piped from the back.

Peridot gave a horrifying scream as electricity was pumped through her system. Tears trickled down the sides of her blindfold. The interrogator gave a dark chuckle. "That's alright. Just makes it more entertaining. Keep going, 1201. I'm curious to see how long you can actually last before you buckle down and become a servant again."

"I won't!" She cried out. "I'll never serve Yellow Diamond again. You can kill me first!"

"Oh, don't worry. We will. We just want to get as much out of you as we can before we do that." She shivered as her forehead gem was oh-so gently stroked. "I'm going to enjoy every second of cracking this piece of shit to pieces."

"Then do it! Let me have… Some dignity."

She nearly screamed in frustration as the entire room laughed at her. "Dignity? _Dignity?_ Please, have you forgotten everything? You're our prisoner now. You won't get an inch of it. We're going to force you to degrade yourself to your lowest, possible instinct before we kill you. You're pathetic." She whined as she felt hands touch at her chest.

"Stop it!"

She tried to wrestle out of her bindings as she felt the core system be pressed again. Forcing at her default to submit. Oh… By the name of Yellow Diamond, it felt so, so right. Her mind buzzed. Pearl… She had to fight this for… Peal. For Steven. For the world that had shown her mercy since she became weak.

But didn't that just make the world pathetic? They needed to fall if they were so easy to conquer. The Homeworld forces were just so advanced. Supreme in their rule. They could do as they wished.

No. That was her default talking.

But it was right.

No, it was wrong.

"Who is Yellow Diamond?" The voice asked her.

"My supreme commander…" The words rolled of her tongue. She panted them. Hotly letting herself seek some form of resistance against the pain. Wait. Had she really said that? But it felt so good… She felt like falling deeply asleep, her body relaxing despite the pain.

"What is your purpose?"

"To- To… To f-fight…" The words of any form of resistance were jarring. They gave her a headache. Why couldn't she just submit to what her body wanted?

" _What is your purpose?"_ The voice asked again.

"To serve the glory of the Homeworld." She replied, slumping. Pleasure filled her loins.

The captor purred in delight. "Good. Now, tell us. Why were we defeated?"

"Th-Through the, ah, usage of… Antiquated gem tech. We have little defences against it… Oh, god, YES!" She grunted, bucking her legless stumps upward. "The old gem magic was the driving force behind our mission… Pearl I'm so sorry… It still remains in the control of The Crystal Gems."

"And Jasper? Has she, too, switched sides with the Earth Forces?"

Peridot could feel her entire face covered with hot tears. She sobbed as her body felt nothing but exctasy. " _I'm sorry._ Yes. Jasper, _Jasper please forgive me,_ has been brought to the side of the others. She orchestrated a vital plan in their… Mission."

"Who was their leader?"

"I-I don't know."

Another jolt of electricity made her mind spin. She was nearly knocked out.

"Who was their leader?"

"T-There's several answers for that." She bit her lip. Her whole body on fire. "The remainer of Rose Quartz… Although… _Steven please help me._ Steven, the small child, holds her gem, he's not powerful enough to act as a warrior. The true mastermind was a P-Pearl."

"A Pearl?"

"Oh, heavens, yes!" If her eyes were still there, they would have rolled to the back of her head. "Yes. The Pearl. The most gorgeous Pearl. She… Knew old tactics of Quartz. Used them to her… Advantage. Please. Kill me! Kill me, please don't make me talk about her!" Her voice trembled. She… She couldn't tell them about Pearl. Not Pearl. Anyone but her.

"Interesting." The voice murmured.

"Kill me." She gasped, rolling as much as she could. Memories fading. She was reverting to her original form. "Please. I don't want to forget. Kill me while I have these thoughts to hold. Please. Stop. Stop it!"

The world wasn't worth living without her fading memories of the dancer gem.


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter Forty Two- Smoke and mirrors**

Blue eyes wandered over the ocean behind the mirror. Pearl's chin rested atop her arms.

They'd found her in the escape pod.

No Peridot.

No Peridot for days.

She glanced back as Steven bounded over, in his pyjamas. Hugging her thin form. "Please don't cry. Well, crying is okay. But don't be so sad. Peridot will be back, just like Lapis came back. Everything's gonna be just fine, you wait and see!"

She allowed herself to sigh, deflating onto his back as they carried on hugging. "I do hope that's true, Steven."

"I know it! You wait and see, we'll find her and we can all be happy again!"

…

Distant echoes. Screams.

No memory.

Kill.

Where am I?

Kill.

Water.

Too much water.

Too cold.

Feathers.

I want meat.

Kill.

What is the world now?

Why is everything sad?

Corrupt. Broken. Everything is broken.

…

Life was returning to Beach City. Stores were opening, houses and shelters rebuilding. It wouldn't be the same for a long, long time. But, at least for now, they had won. Internal recovery, however, was a battle. Sapphire had broken down no less than three times, and Pearl barely said a word as she sat, hoping to God just to see Peridot pacing up the beachside, playfully exclaiming her disappearance was a bizarre, poorly executed joke.

No such thing yet happened.

Jasper grunted, straining as sweat pooled down her forehead. "I-I'm not going down!"

The blue gem rolled her eyes. "Pah, I can't believe you really needed to prove yourself to me like this."

"I am one of the strongest forms in the… the universe!" A grunt as she began to growl.

"Whatever. I'm bored of this. It's been like half an hour."

"What?" Yellow eyes shot wide as a giant arm of water wrapped around her fist and slammed it down. "No way! That's cheating!"

Lapis chuckled. "You can't cheat with the power of the ocean."

"Woo hoo!" Steven cheered, stuffing a fistful of popcorn into his gob. "Go Lapis!"

Greg gave a holler. "You go, Water Witch!"

Jasper gave him a glare. "You're meant to be on my side! Whatever. I'm done with this obscure Earth ritual of… Hand wrestling."

"Arm Wrestling is a sport!" The father gave a frown, folding his arms. "It's a tradition between mankind that's been a way of betting strength for centuries."

"And I _win._ " Lapis tapped a finger on the enraged orange gem's nose. "Looks like water's beaten you again."

"This is total bull-" She blinked to the boy and frowned, quieting his tone. " _Poop._ Bull faecal matter to the highest degree! I demand a rematch."

"Nah." She sighed, walking over to Steven and softly pulling the boy into her arms, hugging onto him. "I can't be bothered. And I'm tired. I've been trying to search for Peri all day. I'm tired of Pearl sitting around and moping. We won, right? Why isn't she happy?"

"Eh. I'd be pretty sad if you went missing on me like that, Lapis." Jasper sighed. "And don't try and deny you don't miss that green brat, either."

"Guys… She's gonna come back!" They all glanced at Steven, worried and saddened expressions at his overabundance of hope. "I just know she will. Everything is gonna be just fine!"

His father moved his large palm over to ruffle his hair. "We sure hope so, son. We sure do."

…

Kill.

 _Kill._

Bloodlust dripped at her maw. Drooling. Delicious.

"Is it ready?"

"Mm. Not quite. I think we can prod at it for a few more days to really piss it off."

"Won't that be dangerous?"

"That's the point. We want it to get stronger. Get angrier. We're going to use it to wipe out The Crystal Gems."

"Oh my. You're really growing some ambition there. Well." The voices tortured the skull. It let out a defiant cry, its noises hissing through the chamber. "Oh, shut your beak. I hate these things, I swear to Yellow Diamond. If we were home, it'd be dead already."

"Don't even think about it. We need it alive to throw outside before we can get away. Homeworld's forces should be coming back any day now."

"That soon?"

"Yes. We need to hit status control as soon as possible and tell them what they're up against. Filthy old magic. If we had our act together, they wouldn't have stood a chance. This cretin here screwed it all up."

Screech.

Pain. Neck hurt, no air, as it tugged against it.

"It's a big bugger, though."

"And it'll grow even bigger as it corrupts more. Thankfully, there's one thing that's actually quite good about this planet."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes." A smile. "Peridots grow unstable when they get on Earth's surface."


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter Forty Three- Cavities**

Silky water washed over little bumps on the beach. Jasper watched the dawn sun, rising, growing. It soon matched her own colour, draping over her projection of a skin. Warming. It felt right. Her eyes closed as she allowed herself to absorb its rays.

"You're up early!"

She blinked, allowing a small smile fall onto her face. "Little warrior. You've ascended from your chambers early, too."

Steven climbed over the ridges of Jasper's back and up her hair, settling atop her shoulders. Like a crocodile with those little birds that took care of their dental hygiene, the tall gem didn't mind. On the contrary, she gave an amused smirk as she steadied his position. The boy looked into the sunrise. "But you're never up this early!"

"I like to think a lot." She replied, face grazed by beams of light. She had to squint. "Just sit and think about things on my own."

"Were you thinking now?"

"Yes." She nodded, firmly. "This sun. It looks exactly the way it did when I first laid my eyes upon it."

"You can remember that?" A gasp of awe.

"I can." She leaned forward onto the fencing. "I suppose it couldn't have been far off the day of my creation. It's one of the only pleasant things I have left to think about from those days. A simple pleasure, with no one hurt and no warfare behind it."

"You mean… It could be your birthday?"

"Well." She hummed, thinking. "I suppose it's not often you get the equinox with the sun's rays hitting the Earth in this particular manner. I guess you could cancel out that it happen's only once in an Earth's rotational year. So, yes. If you insist on a date of birth, this chilly day would be it."

"Jasper." She blinked in surprise as Steven's chubby hands plopped onto the sides of her face, his voice affirmative. "I'm throwing you a party."

…

"Steven, do we have to do this all over again?" Pearl gave a tired whine. "It really didn't turn out well the last time."

"SILENCE!" Jasper sat upon her birthday throne, having quite taken to the regal birthday attire. To be fair, it suited her a lot. "The birthday leader commands you to enjoy these festivities!"

"I can't believe she's actually into it." Amethyst stifled a giggle as Pearl nervously slid on her party hat. The cone sloped to the side.

"At least Steven's happy." Pearl replied, her tone still remarkably down in the dumps. They were on the very same spot the battle had just been won, only a week or so ago. "Okay. Let's get this over with. What's next on this agenda of… Fun?"

"Hmmm,… Well." Greg looked over his usual list of things for one of Steven's birthdays. But this was a gem… Birthday. Would any of these things work? He nervously side-eyed Jasper, who was gazing over him. Expectantly. Steven sat on her lap, munching on the cake otherwise abandoned by the gems. Aside from Jasper, but she'd already had her fill, having far more enjoyed the ceremony of blowing out the candles. "I guess there's the piñata."

"Guitar Dad." Jasper beckoned with her fingers, clearly interested. "Please elaborate."

"Well. There's this, uh, thing filled with candy. You put on a blindfold and you whack it."

"You don't whack it too hard!" Steven burst out, eyes pleading as he recalled what had happened the last time he'd introduced an alien space rock to one. "Just enough to get the candy out."

Her brows peaked with interest. "Yes. This whacking ordeal seems fun."

"Sure… Lemme… Uhm, hang it up. Steven, do you mind bringing the bat?"

"Already on it, dad!" He chuckled, lifting himself off the birthday queen's lap and pacing over to where Lapis and Sapphire were settled down, chatting to one another. "Guys! We're just about to hit the piñata! You two wanna take part?"

"If you want me to, Steven." Sapphire attempted a smile. Her body tense.

"Of course we do! We all want you to have some fun! It's a birthday party."

"To be honest, we all deserve to have some kind of laughter in our lives after all we've been through." Lapis folded her arms, carefully pushing back her fringe as it had been messed by the inclusion of a party hat. She brought the party blower to her lips and exhaled, making it unfurl and make a noise. "Whoo! That's still exciting, right?"

"Yeah! You're getting the hang of it!" He grinned reaching out his hands to help the two up. Lapis eagerly accepted his arm while Sapphire gently floated herself up. "Hm… Maybe we need something you guys can relate to more of as fun to really get the party going."

"Oh? Did you have something in mind?" Lapis chuckled, draping her arms around him.

"Yeah, I'll think about it while you guys have a go with the piñata." He gave a quick nod and led the two blue gems over to where his father was hoisting up a cartoony papier-mâché bird. "Oh! That looks great! Here, I got the other stuff."

"Is it really necessary for the sensory deprivation?" Jasper asked, voice faltering a little as the blindfold was draped over her eyes.

"Yes! Or it will be too easy!" He chuckled, beckoning her to spin around.

The purple gem helped. "Yo, you buff drink of Fanta," Amethyst cheered her on, "You scared of a little dark?"

"No!" She gave a denying hiss, poising to hit with the stick. "I'm just… Where's the target?"

"You're just meant to swing until you hit it!"

"Alright…" She tested the air in front of her, unsuccessfully.

Lapis couldn't hide her chuckle as she watched. "This is the most amount of true entertainment I've had for millennia."

Jasper fell over her foot. The rest of the party nodded with an 'mhm'.

The orange gem lifted her blindfold, angry at her failure and went in for the kill, arms raised and smashing the piñata into the ground, candy literally exploding over the sand. "Victory for the birthday queen!" She hollered over her own victory, somewhat madly swimming around in the candy.

Greg stroked the back of his neck, watching the gem with concern. "Maybe this is taking things a bit too far. These gems don't quite understand… These traditions, you know."

Pearl gave a tiny nod. "My argument precisely. Even with our knowledge of human culture, we didn't understand."

"Hey, hey, guys!" The boy outstretched his hands. "Look, she's having fun, and the rest of you guys are getting there, too. Let's just… Not focus on doing things right but just do whatever makes us happy. I'm tired of all of us just sitting at home and being all sad and stuff. I know we've lost friends. I'm still sad about it all, too, but… We need to try having some fun, too. The world hasn't ended,"

"Yet." Pearl added.

"Yet." Steven gave a somewhat terrified nod and his father nearly fainted, "And we've gotta make the most of it. Even if our buddies and moms have gone."

There was a brief silence as the remaining Cystal Gems looked at one another uncomfortably. Amethyst gently padded over and hugged onto Steven, nuzzling into him. "Yeah. That's some good words there. Anything you got in mind?"

"Well…" He smiled, embracing her back. "I brought my cd player down. Connie left her dogcopter soundtrack there. I think we should do what all you guys like to do and just dance and have fun. How about it?"

Pearl gave the gentlest of smiles. "Yes. That's a good idea."


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter Forty Four- Little Lost Dancing Sheep**

"Hey, Pearl." Amethyst wiggled her brows. "Care to give me a dance? It might be the last chance you get some of this action!" She made the 'twerking' motion, gesturing to her rear end.

"That is obscene!"

"Eh. Not as out there as those two." She looked over her shoulder, tossing her hair back as Jasper's chest ground into Lapis' back. The two had a very… Unique idea of what a slow dance was. "C'mon. It's been a while. I'm not telling you to fuse or anything. I just wanna party, you know."

She rolled her eyes, but then allowed a smile. "Fine. Help me cheer up."

The two met hands and awkwardly shuffled closer, despite their height difference. Pearl's gaze drew distant as they moved. "You really miss her, don't you?" The purple gem sighed, rocking her hips to the soundtrack's beat.

"Peridot?" She blinked, lifting that faraway gaze to the ocean. "Yes. I do. I… Really do."

"You're such a goof. Pretty sure the whole of Beach City could tell you two had it going on."

"We most certainly did not!" She snapped, dipping Amethyst a little too low. "Oh, sorry. That was rude. Look, I'd really rather not talk about it. It's a sore spot."

"I get 'ya. I miss the green goblin, too." She sighed, allowing her body to be brought back up and then breaking from Pearl's grip to dance a little, solo. "It's alright, though. Like Steven said. She'll be back before we know it."

"You think so?"

"Heck yeah! I mean, we got those two crawling up the beach like lost turtle babies, and none of us missed Jasper."

"I heard that!" Jasper yelped, throwing Lapis ten feet into the air. The blue gem did a graceful manouver, and as she hit the top of her flight, pulled strands of water from the ocean to provide a backdrop to her leap. She fell into Jasper's arms and the two continued their movements.

"I guess that's right." She sighed, watching Amethyst perform a somewhat seductive cha-cha slide. She reciprocated the motion by swaying her hips and jiggling her slender shoulders. "Still. I am allowed to miss her until she comes back. Whenever that may be."

"Pearl! Pearl! Sapphire's all tired out, can I dance with you now?" The boy bounded over, hugging onto her leg. She gave a careful, albeit relieved sigh and gently ruffled at his locks.

"If you really want to. You know it's hard to keep up, though."

"Awh, come on! Pleeease!"

"I said yes. Don't worry." She twirled him around. "Amethyst, you keep an eye on the Homeworld… Friends. I don't want them to accidentally fuse or cause much ruckus. Goodness knows this town's seen enough gem related drama in the past couple of weeks."

"Eh. They'll forget by the time the Christmas sales come around." She shrugged and tipped an entire bottle of pop into her mouth.

The pale gem picked the boy up and twirled him around. He giggled in delight, before being put down and following his guardian's steps. "Am I doing okay?"

"You're doing great, Steven." Her lips turned into a smile. His movements were so similar to that of his mother, now that he'd actually learnt to break a few moves. "Keep that up and I'll end up accidentally calling you Rose." She spied a look from his father and glanced away. Maybe that wasn't the right comment to make.

"Awesome! Look guys! Pearl thinks I've gotten better!"

Jasper gave a tiny nod. "The birthday queen approves."

Lapis chuckled from her hold. "You look absolutely precious. Can I dance with you next?"

"I don't think I approve of that." Pearl's lips pursed as she turned with the child. "No offence. But I don't quite trust you not to fuse with him."

If looks could kill, Pearl would be sleeping with the fishes. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"N-Nothing! It's just that you're… Quite attached to him. More to him than to really any of us. And with your track record of total destruction and kidnapping the Earth's ocean, I'm just not too fond of the prospect of a fusion between my surrogate child and a gem delinquent."

"Did you forget the part where I saved your sorry asses during that fight with the ship?" Jasper held the blue gem down.

The orange gem looked around. "Hey, hey, guys. We're all gems here. Sorry, Greg. Uh, friends, then."

"I'm not friends with all of you!" Pearl gave an attacked expression.

"Well, good intergalactic aquaintances living under the same roof. There's no reason to fight this one out. Not in front of the kid."

"Wo-ow. Look at the birthday queen looking all mature and shit!" Amethyst cheered with her seventh bottle of soda in her hand.

"Amethyst, language!" The dancer gem shot her a glare. "Regardless, a sound point. Sorry, Lapis. I didn't intend to hurt your feelings in any manner. I just… Everything is uncomfortable right now. Let's not push on that."

The water-controlling lifeform frowned into Jasper's arms. "Fine. We'll dance when you're ready, Steven, alright?"

"…Sure?" He gave a longing attempt at a smile as Pearl set him down.

"Well. I think I'm all partied out and likely need to go and sit down for a while." She hummed, trying to keep herself together.

"Yeah right! You're just gonna go and cry in the corner about Peridot for another week." Amethyst chugged her sixteenth bottle.

"I will most certainly not! Fifteen minutes, tops." She gave the other a spiteful look. Just when she'd hoped Amethyst was beginning to understand her feelings. Ugh. "Whatever. I'll be in my room if you wish to see me."

She took a few steps towards the temple before an ear shattering crash was heard from the ocean.

She twisted on her heel the second Steven cried out.

From the murky depths, a huge monster rose. It's body was a life green, electricity snapping in crackles along its frame as it extended its huge wings. The monster's beak was at least fifteen feet long, it's entire mass bigger than the actual temple itself. Teeth from its maw were too big for the mouth, spiking out of the beak in random directions before it opened its mouth to give an almighty roar.

The roar.

It was a sound of pain, as if the animal was suffering.

Feathers spewed in directions as it moved, not bothering to stay onto the thing's body. As if it were falling to pieces in front of them. It smelt rank, like burnt flesh despite the fact it was climbing out of water. Underneath the gaps of feathers, there was scarred flesh, marked in scales of a trigonomic pattern. Diamonds.

It climbed to the beach, supported by its numerous feet, the second it raised a tail, the tide came rushing in. With every shaky step, granules of sand rocked back and forth, crashing upwards.

"That's…" Amethyst gasped out, taking a few feet backwards in an awkward stagger.

Jasper looked as if she were about to vomit. "It can't be…"

"No." Pearl raced forward, flinching before involuntarily drawing out her spear. "No, no, no!"

"What in the world is… That?" Greg shouted from behind the beach dune he'd hidden behind, beckoning like a maniac for the boy to join him as the creature took a few more steps, making the ground rumble before giving another cry.

"Look at its eyes." Lapis muttered, there was no recognition in the beast's gaze. Only a pained stare. A birdlike point hidden into its skull, despite the thing itself being colossal in size. The eye moved unnaturally. Every movement of the thing was shaky, as if its body was compressed under constant torture.

A shout that sounded something like 'I've got to get this for my blog!' came from the distance.

"Oh my gosh!" Steven cried out, finally registering what, or whom, the beast actually was. "It's… It's a Peridotdactyl!"

In that moment, the gems of Beach City received a grim reminder. They lived in fear of what the Homeworld had in store.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter Forty Five- It Was Always Me.**

The temptation, no, hunger for suicide is the most feral kind of desire. It is a bloodlust, a drive to tear oneself apart. You lost yourself inbetween tears and violence and the deepest, darkest fear within you. You're going to die, dipshit.

You shake as you cannot let yourself be in this body, this earth anymore.

Nothing seems real. Nothing seems important anymore. The things you once held as the closest to your heart suddenly become absolutely worthless. People, your friends, are now animals. Even worse, when you can no longer pour your heart out to them, they become your enemies. You are the prey of a monitoring system meant to protect you from yourself, and there's no one here left to trust.

You are alone.

Completely and utterly desolate.

There is no one in this world out there for you. Not the thing that brought you here, that vapid, selfish slut. Motherhood is a joke. It's a primal instinct gone viral and it's now marketed on advertisements with lullabies and cushiony baby asses that somehow make you feel warm, but even that is a fucking ruse. You don't get it, you sick, fucking dumbass.

You feel worthless. You feel like an ant in this universe, but no longer humbled.

Worthless.

Destructive.

Impulses are a strange thing to control. You bring your hands to your flesh just to feel something. And maybe, once you hit that psychopathic stage where your mind realises how pointless everything is and how feelings just don't matter, you don't give a fuck about who gets hurt. What does it matter if they die? Who cares, we all get killed in the end, anyway.

Maybe, when you watch their last, wheezing breath, you'll finally _feel_ something. Anything.

You go out for the kill.

You get this sudden, depraved urge just to see blood just so that you can feel, you know?

Because that fucking blood is better than the numbness you will NEVER recover from.

You want to see scars. You want to see things ripped limb from limb.

Oh, it's beautiful, just to watch it all burn. Burn, burn, please, burn. Make my body burn with you. I don't want to be a part of existing anymore. Can't you see? I'm all covered in these fucking scars because they don't do anything anymore. I'm so sick of this vicious circle: numbness, hurting, regret, recovery, numbness, and then it's all going round this insane merry-go-round all over again.

This world was promised for you. They lied. They all lied. No one EVER cared about you.

Love becomes just this construct that's so abstract you want to punish yourself for ever falling victim to even believing it existed. Why would anyone ever love you? You're a speck on a corner of the cosmos that's lucky to even exist. Life? It's pointless. It's meaningless.

You just want to feel something. Anything.

Emptiness burns. That's what depression is. It's emptiness. It's this vile, disgusting loss of hope for anything. There is no point in living. THERE IS NO POINT. WHY WAS I EVER EVEN BROUGHT HERE? To serve some sick regime? To profit to bourgeoise? Why me? Why?

If God is real, then why did he or she or what-the-fuck-ever put me here?

Why did they do this to me? Who even did this to me? Why the fuck do I have a past that I am forced to recover from? Between my torn flesh, my bruised and battered and tortured body, why did they hurt me? Was it because they all felt the same way I feel now? Because they realised how fruitless and deceiptful every other living force in the universe is? Is that the reason they chose to punish me and only me?

Then I will sit back and watch the flames rise. I will step on the throne of roses I belong in, where Satan's crypt lies. I will burn in hell. Because, at least then, I will finally fucking feel.

…

They're all screaming her name.

None of them can believe that it's her that's become this monster. This raging, wild animal.

She's barely attacking them. The huge reptilian bird keeps burying its head in the sand, as if trying to decapitate itself. Every time its approached, it lashes out. There's no way to help it. There's nothing they can do to save Peridot.

It has her. Whatever this corruption is, it has her.

It's visible in all of her movements, the sluggish, drained steps of the bird.

No matter what they cry out to her, she won't respond. Like she's in a trance. There is no remedy, there's no magic pill. She is stuck in this condition and she will not shift back to her normal self. But, as Pearl watches her, a growth begins to well at her chest.

Was this what Peridot was truly, all along? Is this what gems really are? This amalgamation of horrid, repressed inner torment. The tears, the heartache. Peridot gave a pained cry. She twisted her colossal body awkwardly, as if trying to snap her own neck.

There was an odd comfort, every time they came close. Her old friends. But the second they got too close, she lashed out again and again. The beast did not want help. The beast was too far gone. It was like a dark cloud that had descended to far down. Driven her too deep into this state of no return.

Jasper, bless her pigheaded heart, kept trying. And trying, and trying. She charged at the bird again and again, trying to shout sense into the creature that was trying so, so hard just to not stay alive.

Steven had been relocated away. This was too dangerous, too horrific for him to see. Pearl didn't want him to ever watch this monster.

Maybe it was in fear that he'd someday be influenced to become it, too. But surely, that wouldn't be the fault of Peridot's current state.

Amethyst tried to attack, too, but was thrown away. Discarded like an empty packet of chips.

Lapis had shrunk back with Pearl, trying to calm her down.

"I know what this is." She finally said, looking towards the monster.

"A corrupted gem? It's somewhat obvious." Pearl rolled her eyes inbetween frantic breathing. At least she was stable enough for sarcasm.

"No. No, it's not that." She sighed, shrinking down. "Did… Peridot ever tell you about how she almost killed herself on the way over here?"

Pearl's heart almost stopped. "No. She didn't."

"It's hard to understand, if you've never been through it. Back in my days, and yours, they called it the blue mind sickness. Do you remember that?"

"We call it clinical depression nowadays, actually."

"Whatever the term for it, both she and I had it. Me, well, I think it was because of what had happened to me. Being stuck in a mirror and then a prisoner really fucks you up, you know." She looked at the ground, a dreariness clouding over her eyes. "But hers was different. She was… She didn't need some huge trauma for it. She was just sad, angry at the world. Empty."

"W-Why?"

"I don't know. Sometimes, you just don't need a reason." She sighed. "She changed when we got here. I think you guys helped her heal some stuff she never could before, because Homeworld now probably would have destroyed her if they'd known. The society there outlaws illness. I wasn't there for long and I saw a few random gems who I'd literally passed by on the streets die before my eyes. How could you confide your mental state in anyone in a place like that?"

"No one really understands anything over here, either. It's something human beings either study, don't understand or are outright terrified of."

"Truth be told, I think we all have it. It's in our nature to be sad. We only ever really become happy when we're in the right circumstance, with the right people. In any other place, we're all just a bunch of sick vagabonds, looking for an escape. You were her escape, I think. I could tell she was in love with you, the way she changed whenever you were in the room. You gave her purpose to… To live. Something Yellow Diamond, nor the rule of the Diamond Authority never ever gave."

"She nearly killed herself en-route here."

"Yes. She nearly did."

"What stopped her?"

They both turned to Jasper, who was screaming her head off as she charged up and spin dashed into the giant once more. "That brute we are currently calling the Birthday Queen. She's better at dealing with all this shit than you'd think."

"You have got to be kidding me. Jasper? The… The same gem who literally split Garnet in half because she stood in her way?"

"Try not to think about all that too much. We were all following orders. We were all still reliving a war, and that's what we're doing now. She wasn't in her usual frame of mind. I know what it's like to antagonise her, because of the way she flaunts herself, it's easy. But she's… She's just someone who's like one of us. She makes mistakes. She hurts others because she gets angry or upset. But truth be told, I've seen into that beautiful, horrible mind, and it holds so much pain."

"Do you think…" Pearl brought her knees to her chest as the ground shook beneath Peridot's movements. "She doesn't want others to feel that way?"

"Precisely." Lapis gave an affirmative nod. "Peridot is young. Much younger than all of us. She's a child, more mature than Steven, but in some ways, before turning up here, way less experienced in anything at all. She was told to grow up the moment of her birth and to just be a solider… Thing for Homeworld."

"She never told me anything about her sadness."

"Because she probably didn't want anyone to ever find out. She was scared. We're all scared, mostly of ourselves." She glanced up and saw Jasper beneath the bird's clawed grip. "Oh. That's not good. Jasper!"

She flew up, sprouting water wings from her back as she tried to reach forth. The orange gem grunted. "I'm making progress. Get back!"

"Jasper, she's corrupt. We need to destroy her!"

It was at that moment that the Peridotdactyl clenched it's claws around Jasper's body, forcing the tall gem to retreat. Lapis gave a horrified cry at the sight. Pearl balled her fists. What was the gem she'd fallen in love with? What had it become?

"Sapphire! You need to carry on freezing her." She yelped to the smaller gem, who was growing tired of trying to use her powers against the bird. The remanant of Garnet glanced up, surprised to see Pearl back in action.

"I can't! Every time I have her, she just breaks free. Nothing is working."

Pearl swallowed. It was because she herself hadn't faced the bird. She sighed, gripping her weapon. "Gems, get to safety. Let me deal with this. I think… I think I can do it."

Lapis was successfully managing to at least get a hold of Jasper's retreated form by prying Peridot's claws off of it with her water powers. "A-Are you sure you can cope with this?"

She didn't reply. She only stepped towards the bird, her voice faltering as she screamed Peridot's name. And then again. And again.

The bird stopped moving. The green eyes stared down.

Stare.

Pearl's eyes widened.

Those were Peridot's eyes.

She'd seen them when they'd made love.

She'd seen them when they'd danced.

She'd seen them when they'd kissed.

She'd seen them when they'd hugged.

When they'd laughed.

When they'd spoken.

When they'd laid next to one another with nothing else to think in the world but eachother.

Those eyes stared down at her. There was recognition in them.

The bird opened its maw.

"Pu-hrl." Came the shockwave of sound.

The gem's eyes moistened as she reached to touch the monster.

"Yes, Peridot. It's me."

"Purhl." It repeated, its jaw shaking. "Puhrl. Kill me."

A cold sweat ran down her back.

"Kill me." It repeated. Parroting itself. "Kill me."

"I… I can't! I could never do that!"

"Kill me. Kill me. Kill me." It kept pleading. Begging. Begging for mercy. To be put out of its misery. "Puhrl. Kill me."

Pearl's fingers wrapped around her spear.

"Please don't make me do this."

"Kill me."

"I can't."

"Kill me."

She closed her eyes, trembling. Choking a sob, she raised her spear.

The bird gave a scream as it was once more shattered.


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter Forty Six- Endgame**

It was a dark forest. Pearl shivered. They chanted at her. Chanting her failures.

She was nothing.

She fucked up.

She'd ruined everything. It was all her fault. Peridot could have escaped with her.

She could have listened to Sapphire about Ruby's death.

She could have shielded Rose from Greg.

But she hadn't. And now she was stuck. Stuck in this hellhole.

Something came closer. No. She couldn't face it. She couldn't face anything.

Screaming, she awoke.

…

Peridot's death had been a numb experience. No one really registered the rude interruption to Jasper's birthday celebrations until several days later when they saw the giant green hand drag itself out of the water.

They'd tried to contain it, failing. All were too emotionally drained to put up resistance against the Homeworld scum. Steven cried until he had no more tears to lose, now only sitting in his room and ignoring the comfort of the others. No matter how much they hugged him or tried to reconcile the child, it was to no avail. Losing two important gems, his mentor and his friend, were just too much to cope with.

Pearl, had of course been devastated. She'd kept one of the shards behind. Her own creamy bubble had enveloped a tiny piece of Peridot she'd strung around her neck as a necklace, as was adamant to not remove it. Her hands were still scarred from the impact of her lover's shards splitting into her formed flesh. She couldn't heal. No. She didn't want to. These scars were all she had left of Peridot.

When messages from Homeworld finally penetrated back to them, filling their screens, jamming their radios, Pearl took little notice.

"We are deploying a fleet to Earth…" The voices, mechanical, spun from one ear to the next. "Surrender yourselves. Be prepared for trial. You will not survive."

Pearl sighed, exasperated, hugging a couch pillow. "Just shut up already." She hissed at the recordings that wouldn't stop looping. The transmissions were relentless. She spent a lot of her time asleep. At least that way, she didn't need to face the real world.

…

Her dream was a murky landscape. She padded through its swampy lands.

"You need to fight."

"They're coming."

"Protect Earth."

Pearl screamed. "I can't! I can't and I never will. I'm not a commander. I'm not Rose. I couldn't even save Peridot."

They continued.

"Save Earth."

"Protect Steven."

"Protect friends."

"Your destiny."

"My destiny?" She yelped, eyes wide, "My fucking destiny? I am a lowly Pearl. I am a dysfunctional failure. I will fail. Over and over again. I am going to fucking die and so are they. We're all dead. We're all going to die at their hands! Rose!" She sobbed, sinking into the mud of her imagination. "Rose… Oh God, Rose… Why can't you be here right now?"

A hand grabbed her arm. She glanced up.

Pearl shrieked.

"Soon, Pearl. We're here."

…

"Pearl! Wake up, wake up!"

She was being snuggled by the boy. Her eyelids fluttered. "Rose…" She gasped. "No. It was a dream."

"The Homeworld guys are scaring me and you're screaming and I'm scared." He bundled himself into her embrace, and softly, she tucked the both of them underneath the blanket.

"We'll be just fine."

"No." He shook. "No, we won't…"

"We'll defeat them. Just like last time, Steven." She mumbled. They met one another in a gaze. Neither of them believed Pearl's sleepy words. "Please. I need to rest. I can't do anything anymore."

"Dad says you're depressed because Peridot's dead." He said, bluntly. "That's okay. I'm upset, too. We all are."

She sighed, cuddling him in her arms. His warm breath over her chest as they hugged like no tomorrow. "I promise we will survive. Please. I think… I saw your mom in my dream. It was a nightmare but she was there and… I need to try and sleep again."

"Just fake it till you make it." A smile climbed across his lips as he closed his eyes. "We could pretend to be sleeping Lions. Lion's not scared of anything, so we won't be, either."

"A good idea." She whispered, kissing his forehead. Pearl attempted to close her eyes.

She drifted, again.

…

"My Pearl."

Her eyes blinked open. Gentle music padded over piano notes in the distance.

She was in Rose's room. She could smell her lost love's sweet scent. The clouds hugged at her skin. She rolled against them, childishly. "Oh, I wish I could be here forever."

"Don't be stupid, clod." A nasally voice chuckled. "You've got to get up and fight soon."

"P-Peridot?" She gaped.

"We're here." Rose replied, strumming a hand through the dancer's strawberry blonde locks. "We're all here. All the gems that fell against the battle with Homeworld. This is the place we all go when our bodies no longer exist on the earthly realms. I'm afraid you can only see us once. We will soon disappear from this memory."

"Sucks, huh?" Peridot chuckled. Pearl's eyes glistened as the green gem raced forward and embraced her. She found herself snuggled up between her two loves, crying and laughing and crying.

"Pearl. Your tears are wasted on just seeing us." Rose hummed, looking into the distance as petals began to fall in the dream landscape. "You have the hardest struggle in front of you. You're going to have to do all I did all over again."

"But… But I can't! I have nothing. I… I am nothing."

Peridot kissed her cheek. "You're so stupid sometimes. Pearl. You did so much."

"You raised my son." Rose gave her a starry eyed beam. Pearl couldn't stop herself from crying again. "I'm so, so proud."

"You commanded us all against The Right Hand, even when all hopes were lost."

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Garnet.

Pearl began shaking as she looked into those three eyes. The fusion spoke, "You kept it all together. You made them all a team, even when I was no longer with you."

"None of you are real." She whispered. "I must be going crazy. Haha! Well. This is it. All aboard the crazy train. Next stop, Pearl's insane ville. Population me!"

"You're so smart." Rose purred, her dress fluttering in the wind. "I promise you, that for now, we're here. It won't be long. And you won't see us for a long, long time. But you need help right now."

Garnet gave a nod. "You can't let yourself be defeated by this. I know you don't believe in yourself. But you need to. Pearl. You are so much. You represent so many important things."

"But…" Her lip trembled. "I'm just a Pearl."

"You're our Pearl. And theirs now. They need you and you need them." Rose chuckled with that gentle smile. "You always come up with answers. Even when hope seems lost, your tactics are always there."

Peridot gave a bright nod. "You taught me what it's like to really love someone. And I loved you, just like you loved her."

"They all love you." Rose continued. "We all do. But now, you must love yourself, Pearl. That's how you're going to succeed and lead them into battle. You need to love and believe in yourself."

"But I'm… I'm just me."

"Just you is the one who taught me so much." Peridot chuckled. "And you taught Steven. You held it together when Garnet died. We all needed you."

"You did so much for us, even when I was there to take charge." Garnet folded her arms.

"You took care of me, until I had to leave. And you're not without me. You raised my boy. He's young, but you need to believe in him now." Rose drew close, cupping the fragile gem's chin in her hands. "Pearl. You need to love yourself."

"Just like I loved you." Peridot nodded, affirmative.

"Just like I believed in you." Garnet gave a warm smile.

"You need to believe. Have faith. Because in the end…" Rose's lips kissed atop her gem, lips pressing against it. Pearl shivered, as if the world had just caressed her with the tender motion. Her dull world suddenly in technicolour. "All you have is yourself, and what you believe in. Please, never forget that."

And with that, she awoke again.

Thoughts of battle churning in her mind.

 ****

 **A/N: The next chapter will be the last. Thank you so, so much for all your support. I will leave a more thorough thank you at the end of it.**


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter Forty Seven- Skyfall.**

This world was a cruel place.

The fight before them would be torture. They all knew it. Behind words of courage and peptalks and inbetween the mess of warplans and tactics, everyone in the temple knew there was a very large chance humanity could be over within the week.

This world was, indeed, horrible.

Between beestings and scraped knees, behind governmental corruption and lies as fault lines, and behind terrorists and murderers and the greatest evil mankind held in its heart, was a world so unforgiving in its nature.

But this is the same mankind which has hope and camaraderie. The same species who accept and forgive, and have done so much while being so little. Pearl still remembered when she'd watched the moon landing. A feat done by gemworld millennia ago, but a first for them. Like the first steps of a newborn child, they'd landed a piece of equipment little more advanced than a soup can with jet properllors on Luna, and it had been seen as a marvel.

They were so small. So cruel. So easily dead, with such short, unmiraculous lives. But that was it, wasn't it? Every life, no matter how tiny, was treated with respect. Human parents lost their freedom, but still had children. These animals knew so much and so little. Humans were bundles of cells somehow now organic lifeforms.

They had thoughts and feelings and wishes and thoughts. They had kindness and love and hate and tears and were so quickly gone, but they lived. They all had a life. No matter what horrors they saw, war, disasters, attacks, they always rebuilt. They were thriving. They were alive.

And perhaps, it was that which made this stupid, cruel world, so, so beautiful.

Pearl smiled, looking over the coast as dawn draped over it. Was this what Rose had seen?

She prayed Rose was watching her now. She knew inside her that Rose would be proud. Proud of them all, the ones who had fallen, those who had opened their hearts to the world and those who were still here.

Pride. She gripped the wartorn flag, raising it high over her shoulder. She knew Homeworld would be watching.

It was the morning of the battle.

…

"Connie. You can't be here." Steven's mouth was agape. He'd awoken to open the door and she was just there. They'd briefly spoken over the phone over the situation. Her parents had forbidden her from Beach City ever since the attack of The Right Hand. "How did your parents ever agree to let you get here?"

She showed off a rucksack. A delicate sword hanging off the side. "I snuck out. My parents got into an argument over this, my dad wants to move away from the area completely. I pretended to get really upset- well, I was, but I actually packed my bags and jumped out from my window and ran for it."

"Connie! You're going to be in so much trouble! Oh Gosh, look, uh, today's kind of the day of a huge intergalactic battle for the future of this planet so it's probably not the best time to jump onto their way…"

"That's why I'm here, you goof." She took out the sword. "I came here to fight by your side."

"What?"

"I trained to be your knight."

He slammed his hands into his palms. "Connie! We went over this! You don't need to get hurt for me! Go home. This fight is going to be big. Bigger than anything we've ever seen. Even Lion's come to tell you to go back. Lion, make a noise if you want her to leave and get safe." The Lion padded forth, silent. "Uh, blink if you want her to leave!"

Lion kneeled in forward of the girl. He then side-eyed Steven.

"L-Lion?" He asked as the creature's eyes began to glow.

"What does he want?"

"He usually… Does this when…" He swallowed as realisation crept upon his shoulders. "Connie. I... I'm giving you your last chance to head back."

"No." She replied, determined. "I can't just sit and wait while you face danger again, Steven. That's not what good friends do. I can't… I can't nearly lose you to them again. I will stand by you. Always. You're the only good friend I have and I'm not _ever_ going to let myself lose you."

He swallowed, looking down as he snuck a hand into the Lion's mane. "If that's true, then it's a good idea you probably have this." He drew his mother's sword. The pink blade glistened as rays from slits of the beachside accommodation bounced off of it. Connie's eyes grew wide as she looked over its form. "I want you to take it, protect yourself, alright? It belonged to my mom, so I think it's super tough."

"Steven… I… Thank you."

"Please. I might be half gem but you're all human. You need to be careful."

She then grinned. "There's a way to make sure we're both looking after eachother!"

He stopped. Yes. Yes!

"Let's do it."

"Stevonnie time?"

"Stevonnie time."

...

They slowly ambled to the beach.

All confident. All terrified.

Pearl, holding her flag, high. Clad in her armour. Her steps majestic. She had the fierce look of a predator in her eyes. She was prepared to fight to the death.

Amethyst had draped her messy locks into an even messier ponytail. Apparently it would do something to keep it out of her vision. This, of course, was not her decision.

Jasper, tall, proud. Her crash helmet and cape were obligatory. She walked, proud, head held high. Circles under her eyes from fretting over this day.

Lapis was shaky. But her expression was firm. Silent, with pursed lips.

Stevonnie, gorgeous, radiant. Battle ready with her sword in hand. The gems hadn't even questioned the fusion. More to fight with.

Sapphire. Broken. But still healing. This would be her war.

The sky screamed as the enemy came into view. They braced themselves.

The fight that ensued will be left ambiguous by the intents of me, the narrator. One could very easily make a case for the next part of the adventure going in the favour of either side. After all, both were battling for some form of survival, lest that be protecting the Earth or to carry on the progression of the Gem Colonies.

As much as I'd like to say that the Crystal Gems stood victorious, one has to be reminded of the dire situation they're in. However, with the shield and gem of Rose Quartz with them, with Pearl's drive and the powers of all of those on the side of Earth, it's possible to say they at least stood a form of a chance.

In the end, there was one thing that was for truly certain.

They were the Crystal Gems.

They'd always saved the day.

Even people thought they couldn't,

They'd always found a way.

That's why humanity's last hope

Was in the remaining Crystal Gems,

Some new friends,

And Steven.

/End.

 **A/N: And that's all folks! All 150 pages of this, or forty seven chapters (roughly 75k words). I promised a small afterword, and here we are. I am so, so grateful for all your support with this fic, and while I personally will not be continuing this part of the timeline, I leave the interpretation and future up to you. You have every right and my blessing to continue this as you wish. Whether that be victory or more brutal torture. I will, however, be making what one can consider a sister fanfic to this which follows the story of Rose, later Pearl's discovery of Mothehood with the birth of Steven. I hope you all follow me there, and if not, thanks for sticking around for now! It's been an absolute pleasure writing this.**

 **I don't often enjoy discussing my mental state, particularly on the internet for a myriad of reasons, but it's pretty safe to say that several of you have showed concern over my personal health due to the events expressed in this fanfiction and with how dark some scenarios became. I won't name my disorders and such, but it's pretty clear I'm not a stable individual. This fanfic came to me at a rather crucial time, and quickly became one of my healthier outlets for my issues. To be fair, one of the magical charms of SU is the fact that I relate to so many of the characters.**

 **Pearl and Peridot, the more or less protagonistic forces represented many of my expressions with romantic feelings and how I struggle to cope with meeting new people. As some of you know, I am engaged to a person whom many in society wouldn't approve due to the fact that we happen to be of the same sex. That kinda sucks (the disapproval), but my questioning in sexuality is still something I experience on a daily basis. I tried to make their relationship realistic. They didn't know what they were. They were unsure of what they meant and what their place in the world happened to be. That's probably why they were a lot less lovey-dovey than a lot of you hoped for. But I hope you understand why that's the case. Neither of them are lovey-dovey induviduals. They're just two polymorphic sentient space rocks somehow with feelings for one another- feelings that Homeworld just doesn't accommodate for and that Earth still has a stigma against.**

 **As for all the death (two characters, guys. Come on, I could have done SO much worse –squints at Lapis who's now immediately rather scared-), I apologise for the hurt feelings. But, people and, uh, gems, die. They're warriors. Ruby's death was necessary. And I really wanted to write the word 'Peridotdactyl' while it being relevant to this fic. I hope you too can understand how this desire had to be fulfilled.**

 **Regardless, a large part of why I'm at the end of this is because of you. I loved reading every single comment, no matter how many tears and comments on how much you hated me for the heartbreaking elements of this fic were involved. I still gaze over page statistics (nearly 30,000 hits? Who the heck are you people? I can't even imagine being in a room with all you dorks) and think about how many people might be affected. You, all of you, have given an opportunity for my voice to be heard. Thank you. Thank you for every single follow, comment, whatever. I love you all and I'm so grateful for you taking your time to read through this damn thing.**

 **If you wish to leave me questions of whatever nature, feel free to. I'll try my best to answer as many as I can, and to keep up with replies. If you wish to find me on my social media and whatnot, I run a blog over at sockseevil on tumblr (by blog, I reblog random shit and pretend I'm funny sometimes). I try and follow back, and am also known by the Sockseevil screen name over various parts of the internet.**

 **I hope you join me for my next written adventure. Hey, since it's a prequel, at least no one dies (apart from Rose. Ouch. Uh…)! Nevertheless, it's been a wild ride. Thank you. Thank you so, so much.**


	48. Chapter 48

Part Two: After the Tempest.

 **Chapter 48: Sweet, sweet victory**

The previous narrator specified that the fate of the Crystal Gems was uncertain in some attempt at being artistic. It was thus perceived to be the most obnoxious ending to any article of written work ever made.

That narrator has now been fired and will not return. Sorry for the inconvenience. No. Actually, no one is sorry. This was all a figment of your imagination. There was never a narrator.

Or was there?

Darkness. All was dark. Rough specks coated her lidded vision as the ground she was buried in finally stopped shaking. The roaring in her ears ceased. Tremors were finally fading.

Pearl couldn't feel her face. All was too dark. Too quiet. Her armour had eroded away hours into the fight. Perhaps facing Yellow Diamond head on while screaming about oneself's eternal ladyboner for Rose Quartz wasn't necessarily the best idea but it seemed as such at the time. They had been triumphant times, where suicide and sexual desire mixed into a cocktail of adopted human behaviour. Yes, the battle of approximately five minutes ago was certainly going to be remembered for centuries by humankind.

"Roll call!" She gave a noise of internal panic as Jasper hollered. "How many of us actually made it out of that alive? Oh, shit. Gimme a minute. I just regenerated something weird in my tentadick region." She then paused. "Wait. Actually, I kind of like it with opposable thumbs."

"I'm alive! None of you asshats better try and heal me by sticking my gem into foreign objects again, or I swear to the stars I'm resurrecting Yellow Diamond."

"Lapis!" Pearl heard tremors as Jasper tackled her to the ground. "Oh my God, I thought they'd got you! You're okay!"

Pearl scrubbed at her vision. Sand. Her mouth opened in protest. Even more sand. So much of it. She was buried. She needed the surface. Unbearably covered in it, Pearl began to dig and claw.

"Guys! We're over here!" She heard Amethyst call out, several feet away. "I've got Steven and Connie and like a whole new Pearl necklace."

She gaped. That was simply obscene! Thought, Amethyst had smashed through the Pearl clone army as if it were a set of pins and she a bowling ball. Perhaps she'd even been a little too happy to do so. That was worrying.

Fingers, nimble and stretching like a newborn sapling, finally groped and broke surface. Pearl nearly shrieked as they were instantly met by an icy grip.

"You live to fight another day." A quiet murmur sent a chill down her spine. Sapphire tugged at her hand as she kept clawing. "Congratulations on not dying."

"Likewise." Pearl finally gasped as she plunged out of the sand. She blinked, bleary, as the crumbs refused to leave her sight. Smoke dusted the landscape of rubbled streets. Icing on an apocalyptic sundae. "Sapphire, your future vision. Are we in any danger?"

She shook her head. "I can assure you. Our current enemy is quite dead. You have the shards of Yellow Diamond yourself located underneath your bra, if my memory serves well. You stuffed them in there before the second fleet attempted vengeance."

Flushing teal, Pearl's hands moved to her chest to confirm the particles of her victory but instead brushed over the small bubble of a necklace. Peridot. She swallowed before coughing into a fist. "Why, yes." She opened her hand to reveal small shattered pieces of diamond. "We did it. We saved ourselves."

"And the Earth, I suppose." Sapphire murmured before glancing away.

"Does it... Look safe in the future?" Pearl swallowed as the shorter gem's line of vision fell to the ground.

"No." Was the simple reply.

No? No? After all that, _no?_ They'd literally had the second war of rebellion, defeated whole gem armies, survived lazers and guns and missiles and all Homeworld had to offer and they were still not safe?

Pearl's nostrils flared. She kicked the ground. "Well, what the hell is left out there?"

Sapphire shrugged. "I don't know."

The dancer rubbed at her temples, half screaming, half groaning. Obviously, the others had noticed she was still alive, as Steven came racing over, blood caked on his shirt. Cuts and welts littering his infantile features. Pearl allowed him to embrace her despite the mess, but queried back at Sapphire. "Then what do you see?"

"You... Making dinner tonight. A few human funerals. Attempting to possibly resurrect Peridot. Oh, and Jasper getting that job. That's gonna be fun. Oh, yes, and we're going to have a barbeque."

"Wait." Pearl blinked, "What was that?"

"About the barbeque? You're out of mustard and all the supermarkets will be closed indefinitely due to the prevented apocalypse. Such a loss in flavouring will be the cause of much disappointment."

"No, not the mustard!" Pearl held her breath and counted numbers in her head to move away from a meltdown. "About-"

"Pearl! You're not dead!" Amethyst tackled her to the ground, causing sand to spray on impact. "Guys! They're over here!"

Pearl finally turned to the boy still clinging to her. "Goodness. Steven, you're a mess. That last shield really put a number on you."

"But we made it!" He chuckled, flashing white teeth behind his dusty features, shrugging the sand in his hair.

"We have to wash the blood off you before your father sees you. He's going to flip if he finds out they nearly disintegrated you."

"Eh." Steven shrugged. "It's like he said. No such thing as a good war."

Pearl swallowed before smiling. "Right you are. Come on. Everyone. We're heading back to the temple. We did it. They're not coming back."

The pride swelling in her chest, however, could not possibly make her forget Sapphire's words.

Peridot.


	49. Chapter 49

**Prologue II**

 **Dealing with the Devil**

Dying had somehow only made Rose Quartz that much more staggering. Strikingly gorgeous, drenched in femininity and able to overwhelm with one look, Peridot hadn't much approached the rival dead girlfriend out of embarrassing fear.

Which was exactly the reason the dead gem shrieked when she was approached. Quartz was a presence one felt before they even had a chance to see. Peridot swiveled her conscious towards the forming figure as she was softly touched. She looked exactly like the portrait she had caught Pearl staring at time and time again. Her eyes met that dark gaze.

"They're in danger." Came the words. Conclusive. "We need to intervene."

Peridot wrinkled her nostrils, huffing. "I don't recall making you my leader. Do it yourself."

A laugh, soft. Threatening. Peridot's stomach sank. "You know I have a far smaller grasp of what is inevitable than you. I can sense it. You know precisely what is happening and what the outcome will be."

"No." She gritted her teeth. "No. I refuse. What will this lead to? Are we meant to visit them with little holy visions every time they run into trouble? Oh, no, Jasper! Don't eat that! We foresee it exiting your system in an unpleasant manner! Get real." She crossed her arms. "We have no place in trying to shift the nature of their reality. It is no longer something we belong in."

"All your friends will die."

"And if that's what has to happen, so be it. You know what? Great. Fantastic. At least I'll have more souls to potentially amuse myself with."

"That isn't how it works and you know it." Rose crossed her arms before realising Peridot was beginning to move away. Peridot yelped as the other apparated before her. "You and I and everyone else here exists because we died unhappily. Prematurely. Or, as myself, unable to move on because the grief of those still alive isn't over and they haven't let me go."

"Not my problem."

"Is it because you want my Pearl here?" Her tone suddenly shifted. "Do you think she'll come and you'll spend eternity together? You know full well that she won't come here if everyone dies."

Peridot shrugged. "Better than being stuck with you. But, please, don't let me offend you, oh-almighty-Goddess of Earth."

She was grabbed. Rose holding onto her. "Listen to me." A gentle fury in her eyes. "I have been here, in this plane of existence for far longer than you and I know a little better how it works. We shouldn't exist. We should not be able to communicate or travel or literally have thoughts or form. But, somehow, here we are."

"How wonderful." Peridot rolled her eyes before glancing away. Unable to look directly at Rose.

"It is. But it's also painful and terrible. You don't want to be trapped here forever. You are here because you feel too ashamed of how you died and-"

"Shut up!" Peridot squirmed away. "You don't know jack shit about me or how I could possibly feel about how I died! I don't know why I'm here. But I am _not_ going to do your bidding because you have some strange fetish for planet Earth and want to save it from the cluster project. You entitled, power hungry... Fiend. You destroyed and manipulated everyone to see you as some grand hero, but guess what, I'm not buying it. I'm not buying this whole... Perfect leader thing. There's something fucked up about you and I don't care what it is but I refuse to... I don't trust you. I never will. And I hope that hurts."

Rose stopped.

Her eyes fell down. Peridot looked back to see a momentary glimpse of what could only be shame that existed on her features for a second, and as soon as it had come, it swept away.

Rose then coughed awkwardly and frowned. "Fine. You don't trust me. That's great. You're smart. Smarter than them all because you've caught me." Caught her? Caught her at what? "But, this isn't about me. The planet is going to be in danger and you know far more than me about it. Surely you should feel more obligated to try and change it than anything else."

"The cluster is unstoppable. It will abscond from its dormancy and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

Peridot expected Rose to carry on preaching. To calmly carry on pushing her. But what she didn't expect was for Rose to panic. "We cannot let the planet end! W-We can't. I need it to stay alive!"

"Relax. There's nothing I will do and you trying to manipulate me like this won't change a thing." Peridot tried to raise her arms and was met with a small chuckle as she was forced back down.

"No, no..." Rose shook her head, curls bouncing at the motion. "You will fix it. I need you to fix it."

"What's the matter with you?" Peridot shrieked, trying to move away. Escaping. Failing to escape. Bound in the tight grip. "The planet is none of your concern. You said it yourself. We shouldn't even exist!"

A glimmer in those foreign eyes indicated that the planet seemed to be very much of her concern. "Listen." She finally made her touch gentler. Repressing that... That madness. "You don't like me. I understand. You're right to not trust me. That's fine. But we can work out a deal. If this planet ends, neither of us get what we want. Your friends will no longer exist and you and I will be stuck here. Indefinetly. I need that planet for my plans. You want Pearl. I know you do. And I am giving you permission to have her."

"That's disgusting."

"I will instruct you on how to bring her here. For good."

Peridot stopped.

Rose chuckled. "You can have my Pearl. She will be yours. You, however, need to do as I say and make sure that we both get what we want. When I get what I want, I will no longer inhabit this place. I will be gone and you and I will hopefully never see one another again. You and her will make this place your Kingdom. Isn't that something which you should desire?"

Peridot swallowed.

"It'll be our deal. We both win. We save the planet and your friends. You get Pearl."

"But, I..."

Rose gave a frown. "Don't you want her?"

"Yes, but I..."

"You won't see her ever again if you do not obey me. Is that really so hard to understand?"

Peridot closed her eyes for a moment. Trying to battle her desire. Her sin.

She finally looked back. Hateful.

"How do you want me to do this?"


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

 **Not quite mundane**

"Pearl, you're shaking the table."

"That's nice, Steven."

"Pearl. My food is gonna fall off."

"Sure. I'll get to it tomorrow."

"Pearl!" Steven yelped as his bowl of cereal fell over his lap and coated his knees in milk and bits of frosted flakes. "Ew, gross! Awh... That was my last box! Now we've gotta wait for the supply truck to come into town."

"Glad to hear it, Steven." Her eyes were vacant. Her face turned to the beachside. The cause of chaos was her knee, rapidly bouncing up and down beneath the table. It was as if she was completely gone.

It was just at that time Amethyst reappeared from her room, carrying a hot dog that was more than likely a decade out of date. "Yo. Steven. Did'cha pee yourself?"

"No! The table started bouncing because of Pearl and it fell all over me." He replied, upset. "Pearl... you're starting to worry me. You've been like this ever since we got back. You haven't helped out with rebuilding the city. Even Jasper and Lapis are out there right now."

"Well. They're most likely making out more than mending the rubble." Amethyst replied with a haphazard shrug. "But he's right. You're in a weird-ass funk, P."

"I'm fine." She blinked, snapping back to reality. Her pale gaze finally lucid. "I need to talk to Sapphire and see if she's got any news."

"I already talked to her this morning. She told me that if you're not gonna stop bothering her with... whatever you're doing, she's going to file a restraint order." Steven furrowed his brows. "What are you doing with her, anyway?"

"Waiting." Pearl replied.

That was true. Pearl was waiting.

...

"Hey." Buck nudged at Jasper.

Jasper narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the teenager. She didn't particularly trust anyone who so casually wore shades; even indoors. "...Hey."

"We just wanted to tell you that we think you guys helping us out is like... super cool. My house got blown up in the whole thing and like... The shelters you guys helped build really let me and dad get back on our feet."

"Oh." Jasper looked around, realising that many of the people constructing and mending broken walls were gazing in her direction. "Hey. It's... it's the least we could do. This planet didn't ask to get involved in an intergalactic space war... for the second time."

"Yeah. Well. Thanks, space mama. You and the blue chick are pretty cool. And the rest of your, uh, cool household."

Buck sauntered away, not glancing back as he left a fairly confused Jasper standing in the middle of a half rebuilt house. "Huh." She glanced around at her newfound audience and flushed. "What are you all looking at? Never seen a rock hard at work before? That's right. Stop giving me the attention I desperately desire. Good."

"Jeez, Jasper." Lapis rolled her eyes as she strode over, arms covered in flecks of cement. "Anyone else might've thought you don't have issues."

"Shut it." She glanced away, red-faced. "How's things on your end? You'd better have been busy."

"I've done well enough. I guess my job's easier than yours as I'm just mixing this stuff." Lapis stretched out languidly, smirking at Jasper's flush. "Nice to see you adapting to the local culture. Blushing isn't a gem thing as far as I'm aware."

Jasper opened her mouth only to immediately close it. "Shut up." She bit her lip, growing hotter in the face. "For your information, warrior class gems such as I are naturals at adapting. I'm practically camouflaged."

Lapis glanced at the humans around them; then at the eight foot tall, strikingly orange hulk of a rock and slowly nodded. "Yeah. Camouflage. I can't tell the difference, to be honest."

A thick lip was curled. Jasper hissed. "Fine. I see how it is. I'll show you." She prodded a finger at Lapis' midsection. "I'll show you all. I can blend in just fine."

"Oh?" Lapis raised a brow. "What's that? A challenge I hear?"

Teeth were bared. "Indeed. I can become human enough for this place. Pah. It's got to be easy. These people aren't nearly as powerful as us; let alone cultured or... Well. They're incomparable to gemkind. I, my dear Lazuli, will be indistinguishable upon these human crowds."

Lapis' lips curved into a naughty ghost of a smile. "Alright. Be human for a whole month and I'll... I'll take you out on a human date."

Jasper looked away. Surprised. "Fine. It's a... Win-win for me."

"Likewise. But if you lose, you're footing the bill." She brushed a hand through her hair and smirked. "No help from Steven or any of the other humans. You have to pay for the whole thing. With money you've earnt from your human job."

Jasper narrowed her eyes at the other. "Is that so?"

"Oh, yes. And if you haven't managed to earn the money by then, I'd be quite happy to employ you as a servant to do my bidding."

"Fine!" She huffed. "Same to you! You lose, you pay for the bill to our extremely fancy human date! And if... WHEN I win, I'll make sure to have a bath... In the fanciest champagne they stock! That... You! You will pay for! Hah! Haha!"

"Okay." Lapis cocked a brow. "Fine. It's a deal. From this moment on, you're a human for the rest of the month."

"Fine! That's exactly what I am!" She bellowed, screeching to the heavens. The whole street stared at her as if she were insane. "I AM BLENDING IN. AS A NORMAL. AVERAGE. HUMAN. BEING."

Lapis could only shake her head and sigh. This was going to be an entertaining month.


End file.
